It’s true, CDs are becoming less and less popular, and smaller and more practical media, such as smartphones or USB sticks, are being favored for music playback. Yet there are cases in which relying on the dear old floppy disks is still necessary: think, for example, of the standard CD players of many cars, DVD players in the living room or – why not? – the video game consoles of old and new generation, perfectly capable of playing songs from a CD.
I bet you also fall into one of those cases and are here to figure out how to put songs on CD, right? Well, I’m happy to report that this is just the guide you’ve been looking for! Below, in fact, you will find explained in detail how to create CDs full of songs using the computer, either through programs built into the operating systems, or using third-party software.
Don’t worry, you don’t need any special computer skills to succeed in this procedure, as the process to follow is quite simple: all you need is a working computer with a burner connected to it, then one or more blank CDs and, of course, the songs you want to transfer to the optical media. For all the details, read on.
Preliminary Operations
Before explaining to you how to put songs on CD, there are some preliminary information that it is my duty to provide you with to let you have a perfectly clear idea on the subject.
First of all, considering that you need a burner to perform the task at hand, you need to make sure that your computer has one. Unfortunately, most PCs and recent Macs do not have a burner built in.
If your computer doesn’t have any burner, you can still make up for it by using an external one. If you want some advice about which product of the category to buy, I suggest you to read my buying guide dedicated to external burners: inside it you will find several useful information about brands, prices, technical features etc.. that will surely help you if you don’t have a product of this type yet.
Before you roll up your sleeves and take action, you should also understand the difference between the types of CDs with songs that can be created. The first one is the classic audio CD, that is, the one compatible with the vast majority of devices that play music from optical media, including the CD players of older cars. With this type of CD, the limit number of songs you can copy is defined by the total duration of the tracks you’ll be transferring: a disc can generally contain about 74 minutes of music, or more or less 18 tracks of 4 minutes each.
It’s a completely different story for MP3 CDs, where the limit of music to be transferred is dictated by the space occupied by each song: in other words, you can insert songs until the CD is physically full. Given that a CD can generally hold about 700 MB of data (that is, 175 tracks weighing 4 MB each), it goes without saying that an MP3 disc can hold much more music than a classic audio CD. However, there is one aspect not to be underestimated: not all CD players are compatible with MP3 discs, especially those included with home stereo systems or installed in older cars.
So, before opting for one or the other method, I invite you to keep in mind the type of player on which you intend to use the media created: if we are talking about a desktop DVD/DivX player, a console or a new generation car player, you can safely make your choice on MP3 CDs, otherwise my suggestion is to move towards the creation of a classic audio CD.
I would also like to point out that, in order to obtain an optimal result, i.e. CDs that can be read by any player, that don’t skip and that last as long as possible, the fundamental thing is to use a good quality diskette: if you have no idea which one to choose, immediately take a look at my guide on which CD to buy to burn music, where you can find valid and exhaustive advice. Keep in mind, however, that what you need are CD-R type discs, i.e. the classic CDs on which you can write data only once (even in multiple sessions, but without the possibility of recovering storage space by deleting the previous data), which are compatible without the slightest problem with all players.
I also suggest that you pay attention to the writing speed when burning. In this regard, to avoid creating discs incompatible with older players, avoid burning at a speed higher than 8×, although almost all discs support the maximum speed of 52×.
How to put songs on CD from your computer
At this point, I’d say we’re finally there: we can take action and go find out how to put songs on CD from your computer. Below, then, you’ll find explained how to proceed on Windows. Anyway, don’t worry, you won’t have to do anything particularly complicated or out of your reach.
Windows Media Player
Windows Media Player is the “standard” program that Windows uses to play music, but not everyone knows that if needed, it can turn into an excellent software to put songs on CDs. It is free and comes pre-installed on all Windows operating systems (except for the “N” editions). It can be used to create audio floppy disks as well as to put songs on MP3 CDs.
In order to use it, first launch the program by clicking on the Start button (the one with the Microsoft logo) on the taskbar and selecting the Windows Media Player shortcut from the menu that opens.
If you cannot find Windows Media Player among the programs installed on your PC, it is because the software has been deactivated in the system settings: to enable it, follow the instructions I have provided in my guide on how to download Windows Media Player.
Once Windows Media Player is open, insert the blank diskette on which you want to copy your music into the burner. Then, if this is the first time you run the program, check the Recommended Settings box and click the Finish button.
Then select the Music item at the top and, if the songs you want to burn are not yet present in the program’s library, add them by dragging and dropping them into the Windows Media Player window. Alternatively, if you prefer, you can copy your songs to the Music folder of your PC and they will be automatically added to the Windows Media Player library.
Once this is done, click on the Burn tab at the top right, drag the songs to be transferred to the sidebar that appears on the right where it says Drag and drop items here, click the Menu button (the one in the shape of a rectangle with a check mark) at the top right and then choose the Audio CD item to create this type of media or CD or DVD Data to create an MP3 disc.
Now all you have to do is click on the Start burning button to create the disc. Once the process is complete, the media will be ejected automatically from the player and you’ll be able to use it as you like.
Let me give you a tip: if you’re creating an audio CD and the player you’re going to play it from is very old (or worn out), I recommend lowering the burn speed to reduce the chance of the disc not being read correctly. To do so, click on the Menu button on the Burn screen, then on the Other burning options item, then set the Burn speed drop-down menu to Medium or Slow, click on the OK button and proceed to create your audio CD.
CDBurnerXP
Another tool you can rely on to put songs on CDs from Windows is CDBurnerXP. This is an excellent free solution for creating various types of CDs on Microsoft operating systems. It supports both audio CDs and MP3 CDs and is very easy to use.
To be able to use it, first of all download the program to your computer by connecting to its website and clicking on the Download the latest version link at the top.
After the download is finished, open the .exe file and click the Yes button in the window that appears. Next, place a check mark next to the I accept the terms of the license agreement, click three times on the Next button, then on the Install and Finish buttons.
Once the program window appears on the screen, select the Italian language from the drop-down list and press the OK button, then insert a blank diskette into the burner.
At this point, if you want to create an MP3 CD, click on the Data Disc item, then the OK button, drag the songs you want to put on the CD to the bottom right section of the program’s window or use the Add button to insert them manually and click the Burn button (the one with the green checked disc icon) and wait for the process to complete.
As for creating audio CDs, from the program’s home screen choose the Audio Disc option and then press the OK button, after which drag the songs to be transferred to the appropriate section or use the Add button to do it manually and click the Burn button.
In the window that opens, choose a suitable writing speed from the drop-down menu (possibly low, if the player you’ll be using to play the disc is not in its best shape), check the Close disc and Eject disc after burning boxes and, finally, click the Burn button.
I’ll give you a little tip: you can have a pause of two or more seconds added between tracks by checking the 2-second pause box between all tracks and setting the track duration with the box just below it. Once the transfer of the songs to the CD is complete, the disc will be ejected automatically and you can use it wherever you like. It’s as simple as that!
How to put songs on CD from Mac
Do you want to put songs on CD using a Mac? No problem, even in this case you can do it without particular difficulty using ad hoc tools for macOS. To learn more, keep reading: you’ll find everything explained in detail below.
Music/iTunes
If you want to put songs on CDs from macOS, you can do it using Music (on macOS 10.15 Catalina or later) or iTunes (on macOS 10.14 Mojave or earlier), Apple’s multimedia software, preinstalled on the Cupertino company’s computers. Maybe not everyone knows this, but besides allowing you to manage and play your multimedia library, they also allow you to burn audio or MP3 discs, as long as they are not downloaded from the iTunes Store/Apple Music, since these are protected by DRM.
To use it, launch Music/iTunes by selecting its icon on the Launchpad and, if the songs you want to burn to your floppy disk are not yet present in the program’s library, add them by first clicking on the File menu at the top left and then selecting Import from the latter.
Once the procedure is complete, if you are using iTunes, first access the library by selecting the item Music from the drop-down menu at the top left. Then, regardless of the application used, create a new playlist containing the tracks to be included on the CD. To do so, select one or more songs to be added to the playlist (possibly using the key combination cmd+click on macOS), right-click on any of the selected songs and choose Add to playlist from the menu that opens.
Then, click on the New playlist item and a new playlist will be created to which you can add more songs by dragging and dropping them in the left sidebar or by right-clicking on the songs you are interested in and selecting the Add to playlist option and then the playlist name from the menu that opens.
Now insert a blank floppy disk into the burner, right-click on the name of the created playlist and select Burn playlist to disc from the menu that opens, then place a check mark next to either CD Audio or CD MP3, depending on the type of disk you want to create.
Then set the desired speed (I suggest you keep it low, in the case of audio CDs) using the Preferred Speed drop-down menu and, at your discretion, determine the distance between tracks by checking the appropriate box.
Once you have defined the optimal settings for you, all you have to do is click on the Burn button and wait for the procedure to complete. Easy, right?
Burn
Another tool that I recommend you to consider to put songs on CD acting from an Apple-branded computer is Burn. This is a good burning program macOS that, absolutely free, allows you to create audio discs and MP3 CDs, as well as discs of various data, with video and make copies of existing CDs and DVDs.
To download Burn, connect to the program’s website and click on the Download Burn link located at the bottom right.
Next, open the .dmg file you just obtained, drag the Burn icon to the Applications folder of macOS, right-click on it and select Open from the menu that appears, then press the Open button in response to the warning that appears on the screen, in order to go around the restrictions applied by Apple to non-certified developers (you have to do this only the first time you start the program).
Now, insert a blank floppy disk into the burner, click on the Audio tab, set, depending on the disc you want to create, the Audio CD or MP3 CD item from the drop-down menu in the upper right corner and drag the songs you want to put on the CD into the program window.
Finally, click the Burn button: all you have to do is set the writing speed (better low if you’re creating an audio CD) from the drop-down menu provided and click the Burn button again to finally create your disc.
How to put songs on car CD
Would you like to understand how to put songs on a car CD? I’ll let you know that in order to do this, you don’t have to do anything different than what we have already seen together in the previous lines.
You have to create a normal audio CD or an MP3 disc, depending on what your audio CD player supports, and burn it on Windows or macOS, depending on the operating system you use on your computer. In this regard, however, you might find it useful to read my guide on how to listen to MP3s in your car.
How to put songs on an already written CD
If, instead, what you want to do is to put songs on a CD already written, I inform you that to do this you must first of all have a CD-RW diskette, which differs from the standard ones because it supports the possibility of being rewritten, deleting the data on it and burning new ones.
You must also have a burner with support for the type of discs in question. On the software side, however, you can use the same tools that I have already reported in the previous lines for Windows and macOS. In any case, if you want to learn more you can read my specific guide on how to rewrite a CD.