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Remember to rip and record only what you've bought, or what's legally available on the Internet. Likewise, don't copy commercial software and blithely hand it over to those who didn't pay a penny for it. Honor the copyrights of the musicians and software developers that worked the long hours. Please.
In addition to recording audio CDs from MP3 files, Easy CD & DVD Creator can
- Copy both individual tracks from existing CDs (in a process sweetly called ripping).
- Copy an entire existing audio CD.
Here's how to create the Ultimate Motorhead Mix CD (or, if you prefer, the Absolute Best of Alvin and the Chipmunks):
1. Load a blank disc into your recorder, which automatically displays the Home screen.
Do not use a CD-RW when recording a standard audio CD for use in a stereo system unless the player is designed to play CD-RWs!
2. Click the Creator Classic button in the Home window.
3. Choose File --> New Project --> Music CD.
If you'd rather create an MP3 music CD (and your audio CD player supports MP3 music discs), choose File --> New Project --> MP3 Player Disc instead. You can then add up to 700MB of MP3 files from your hard drive because an MP3 music disc is actually a data disc (not a true audio CD). MP3 music discs store MP3 songs in their native format, so you can get several hours of listening pleasure on a single CD! (Remember, however, that you can't play an MP3 music disc in an audio CD player that doesn't support the format . . . you hear absolutely zilch.)
4. Now it's time to add tracks from the Easy CD & DVD Creator screen. You can select one of these options:
• Add MP3, WAV, or WMF files: Use Explorer view in the upper-left half of the screen to locate folders where your audio files are stored.
• Rip tracks from another CD: Load a disc into either your CD-ROM or DVD-ROM drive or your recorder and then select that drive from the Select Source drop-down list box to display the tracks. To load other tracks from other audio CDs, repeat the process.
If you don't have a track listing for the disc you have loaded, just double-click on a track in Explorer view in the upper-right half of the screen. Easy CD & DVD Creator displays the Preview player, and you can listen to the track before you add it to your layout.
5. Click once on each track that you want to add.
To choose more than one track from the same source, hold down the Ctrl key as you select each track name.
6. After you have selected your tracks from the source folder or disc, click the Add to Project button (which looks like an arrow pointing down) in the center of the window to add them to your project layout. (Alternatively, you can drag the music files from the Explorer view and drop them on the layout at the bottom of the screen.)
7. Continue repeating Steps 4 through 6 until your track layout is complete — or until you have packed every second of your blank disc!
You can tell how much time you have used on your disc by checking the Estimated Time bar at the bottom of the screen; it tells you how much time the current track list needs and the remaining time you can fill on both a 74-minute and 80-minute CD-R.
8. Arrange the tracks in your layout as you like by clicking a track name to highlight it and dragging it to the new position in the track list.
9. Although it's not necessary, you might want to enter both a name for your new disc in the New Disc Title field and the artist's name in the Artist Name field.
Need to change or add a name for a track? Just click the entry to highlight it and click again to edit the New Disc Title field.
10. Ready to burn those hip 1s and 0s (zeros)? Click the Big Orange Disc-on-Fire Button at the right lower corner of the window.
If you're loading tracks from an audio CD, Easy CD & DVD Creator prompts you to load the pesky thing when it's necessary so that the tracks can be copied and converted.
The program displays the Record Setup dialog box.
11. If necessary, select your recorder and select the fastest possible recording speed.
12. You can clone multiple copies of your new music disc by clicking the arrows next to the Number of Copies field.
13. Enable the Buffer Underrun Protection check box if your drive supports burnproof recording.
14. To add a little technowow touch to your new audio CD, enable the Write CD-Text check box!
Many audio CD players (and most CD player programs for your computer) display CD-Text while the disc is playing, which includes the disc name, artist name, and each track name.
15. If your recorder supports Disc-at-Once mode, select it (to prevent clicks between tracks). Otherwise, choose Track-at-Once mode and choose the Finalize Disc option.
16. Click OK, you music-producing mogul! If your recorder is empty, Easy CD & DVD Creator yells for you to load a blank disc.
The program displays the Burn Disc Progress dialog box, allowing you to monitor the 1s and 0s (zeros) as they're shoveled into the furnace and onto your disc. When the recording is done, you have the choice of running Label Creator if you want to print a fancy-looking label or a set of jewel box inserts.
Time to grab your headphones and jam to your latest creation!
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