Creating your own custom music CDs is a lot of fun. It’s also a great way to protect any new CDs you purchase from getting scratched and ruined. When you buy a new CD, rip it to your Media Library, then put it back in its case for safe-keeping. Burn a copy of the CD (or just your favorite songs from the CD along with some other favorite songs), and use the copy in your home or car stereo. You can also copy songs you purchased online to CDs. If you buy blank CDs in spindles of 50 or more, you can get them pretty cheap. You won’t get the little plastic jewel case. But you can buy paper sleeves instead. Or keep all the CDs in a CD binder.

Types of music CDs

Before I get into the specifics of burning CDs, it’s important to understand that there are two different types of music CDs you can create:

- Audio CD: This type of CD will play in any home stereo, car stereo, or portable CD player, as well as on computers. You must burn songs to a CD-R disk (preferably an Audio CD-R) to create this type of CD because most non-computer players can’t play CD-RW disks or DVD disks.

- Data CD: This type of music CD will play in computers, or in any stereo that’s capable of playing this type of CD. You can use CD-R or CD-RW disks. However, you must choose a disk type that is compatible with both your computer’s CD/ DVD burner and the device on which you want to play the disk.

CDs and DVDs are examples of optical media, so named because they use a laser rather than magnetism to read and write data. All the different types of disks (CD-R, CD-RW, DVD-R, DVD+R, DVD-RW, DVD+RW, and so forth) make things woefully confusing. If you don’t know what type of disks your stereo can play, refer to the instructions that came with that device. Optionally, create an RW (Read/Write) disk and try it out. There’s no loss if the disk doesn’t play, because you can always erase the disk and use it for something else. Once burned, R (Recordable) disks cannot be erased or changed.

Choosing music disk options

The first step to creating a music CD is to specify which type of disk you want to create, and perhaps some other options. In Media Player, click the arrow under the Burn button to see the menu. Choose options as summarized in the following list. - Audio CD: Choose this option to create the type of CD that all stereos and players can play. For best results use an 80-minute Audio CD-R disk.

- Data CD: Choose this option if you want to create a music CD or DVD that plays only on computers and devices that are capable of playing non-traditional music CDs.

- Eject CD after burning: Choose this option to have the CD be ejected automatically when it’s ready for use. This is especially useful when burning multiple CDs from a single Burn list.

- Apply volume leveling. . .: Choose this option to ensure that the volume of each song is the same when listening to the finished CD.

- More options: Choose this option to choose additional options described below this list.

- Help: Choose this option for help with burning music CDs.

Choosing More options takes you to the Burn tab of Media Player’s Options dialog box. Most of the options duplicate options on the menu. The ones that are unique are summarized in the following list.

- Burn Speed: The default setting is Fastest. But if you have problems burning disks, or the sound quality isn’t up to par on the disks you burn, consider reducing this to a slower speed. Items that follow this point in the list apply only to Data Discs. They have no effect on Audio Discs.

- Add a list of burned files. . .: Choose WPL if your player can read Windows playlists. Choose M3U if your player can only read MP3-style playlists.

- Use media information to arrange files. . .: If selected, items on the CD will be organized into folders. If you are unsure about whether or not your player can handle folders, clear the checkbox for this option.

- Do not convert: Choose this option to maintain the music quality you chose when ripping CDs, or the original quality of songs you purchased online.

- Convert to. . .: Choose this option to squeeze more songs onto a Data Disk than your current quality setting will allow. Then move the slider to the quality you desire. At the smallest size (32 Kbps) you can get about 47 hours of music on one CD, but the music won’t sound too good. At the other extreme, 192 Kbps, you can get about 7 hours of music on one CD, but the music will sound great.

The average for music CDs is 128 Kbps, which provides for about 11 hours worth of music per CD. The Convert To option has no effect when burning an Audio CD, and the limit is always a little under 80 minutes on an 80-minute Audio CD-R. Click OK in the Options dialog box to save any settings you changed. With your options selected and squared away, you’re ready to choose which songs you want to copy to your custom CD.

Choosing songs to put on the CD

The skills needed to choose songs to put on a CD are the same as those for creating a custom playlist. You can drag songs individually, or you can drag an entire album or other category. But you have to make sure you’re dragging to the Burn list, not just any playlist. So let’s go through the basic process:

- If the Navigation pane  isn’t visible, choose Show Navigation Pane from the Layout Options button or the button under Now Playing.

- Click a playlist name under My Playlists or a category name under My Library. If you want to see all of your songs, click Songs under My Playlists. Use the View Options to choose how you want items in the contents pane to look.

- Click the Burn button in the features taskbar to make sure you’re viewing the Burn list.

- If your Burn list contains songs from a previously burned CD, and you want to create a new one, click the Clear List Pane button (red X) in the Burn list, or click Burn List and choose Clear List.

- Click the button under Burn and choose Audio CD if you’re burning a music CD for stereos. Otherwise you can choose Data CD or DVD if you’re creating a music disk for computers and appropriate players.

- Use a felt-tip pen or disk labeler to write the name of your custom CD on a blank CD. Then put that CD in your CD drive.

The songs that appear in the center contents pane will, of course, be songs you have in your own library. How your icons look depends on what category you’re viewing and what option you’ve selected from the View Options button. At this point, just drag the songs you want to burn to your custom CD to the Burn list. Or right-click any song title and choose Add to Burn List. As you add songs, the indicator at the top of the Burn list keeps you informed of how much space is still available on the CD. You can keep adding songs until the disk capacity is exhausted and you see Next Disk in the Burn list. When you see Next Disk, only songs above that line will fit on a single CD. Clicking the Length column heading sorts songs from longest-to-shortest or vice versa. When you have little time left on a CD, that order can make it easy to find a song that will fit. Options that apply to custom playlists also apply to the Burn list. For example, to remove a song from the Burn list, right-click its title and choose Remove from List. To change the order of songs, click Burn List, choose Sort, and choose a sort option. Or, drag any song title up or down within the list. When you’re happy with the songs you’ve selected and their order, you’re ready to burn the CD.

Creating the disk

When the Burn list contains all the songs you want to copy to the CD, click the Start Burn button at the bottom of the Burn list. Then wait. How long it takes depends on the type of CD you’re creating, the speed of your drive, and other factors. The status column in the contents pane and an indicator below the Burn list will keep you apprised of progress. When the CD is finished, remove it from the CD drive. If you created a standard Audio Disk, you can insert and play it in a stereo as you would any other disk. If you created a Data Disk, you can play it in any device that supports the type of disk you created.

Saving a Burn List

It’s a good idea to save each Burn list you create. That way, if you ever want to create another copy of the same CD, you can just open the saved Burn list. To save a Burn list, click the Burn list name and choose Save Playlist As. Change the name to something that describes the Burn list and click Save. Then to create a new Burn list, click the Clear List Pane button.

Copying Music to Portable Devices In Windows Vista

A portable device is an MP3 player or similar device that lets you take your music with you. To put songs (or other media) on your portable device, you sync songs from Media Player’s library to the device. You can put any songs you wish onto your player. The only limit is the storage capacity of the device. Windows Media Player works with any device that meets Microsoft’s PlaysForSure standards. It does not work with the Apple iPod (you use iTunes to sync to the iPod). Nor does it work with some older devices. See “Converting File Types” later in this article for tips on using iTunes files with Windows Media Player. If you don’t already have a portable device, but are thinking of getting one, visit the PlaysForSure network at www.PlaysForSure.com. There you can see the full range of devices that work with Media Player 11. Different devices work a little differently. So if you already have a device, the first step is to learn the basics of using it and connecting it to your computer. That information you can get only from the instructions that came with the device. Despite the differences among devices, I can tell you generally how synchronization works with Media Player 11. The first step is to open Windows Media Player and click the Sync button in the features taskbar. Then connect your device to the computer and turn it on. If a dialog box opens asking you to name the device, type in a name of your own choosing and click Finish. What happens next depends on the storage capacity of the device: - If the device capacity is 4 GB or greater, and your media library can fit within that capacity, Media Player automatically copies your entire library to the device. Each time you connect the device in the future, Media Player will copy any new songs you’ve acquired since the last connection, so that the device stays in sync with your library. - If the device capacity is less than 4 GB, or your library is too large to fit in the device, nothing is copied automatically. But you can manually copy any songs you like to the device. You can change what happens when you connect your device. We’ll get to that in a moment. First, let’s look at how you manually choose songs to put on your device.

Manual syncing

When your device is connected to your computer and you want to choose songs to copy to the device, click the Sync button in the features taskbar. The List pane at the right side of the program window shows the storage capacity of the device, and the amount of space that’s currently on the device. Beneath that is an empty playlist, called the Sync list. To add songs to the device, you need to drag them from the contents pane to the Sync list, just as you would when burning a CD or creating a custom playlist. As always you can select multiple songs and drag them all at once. You can also right-click any song, album, icon, or category name and choose Add To “Sync List.” As you add songs, an indicator near the top of the Sync list shows you how much space you have remaining. If the indicator turns red and shows “Filled,” you’ve gone over the limit. To remove a song from the Sync list, right-click its title and choose Remove From List. Do so until the indicator turns green again. As always, you can arrange songs in the Sync list by dragging them up or down. Optionally, click Sync List, choose Sort, and choose a sort order. When you’re happy with the songs you’ve selected and their order, click the Start Sync button at the bottom of the Sync list. The contents pane of Media Player will show the synchronization progress as songs are copied to the device. When the Status column shows “Synchronized to Device” for every song, you’re done. You can disconnect the device from the computer, plug in your headphones, and take your music with you.

Managing songs on a device

Portable media players are much more flexible than CDs. For example, you can delete individual songs from a portable device, and replace them with other songs. When your device is connected, it shows up as it own set of categories in the Navigation pane. When you click a category name under the device name, the contents pane to the right shows the contents of the device only, not the contents of your entire library. Manual syncing is easy (once you’ve played around with it a bit). Most people like to choose exactly what’s on their portable player. So manual syncing is also the most commonly used method. To use auto syncing, you need to enable automatic syncing, and specify what syncs automatically. Let’s look at that next.

Auto-syncing devices

Auto-sync is a method of keeping a portable player up-to-date with whatever content is currently available in your Media Player library. If your device doesn’t have enough capacity to store your entire library, exactly what you end up with can be somewhat arbitrary. The first step is to connect the device to the computer, and make sure it’s turned on. Next, click the arrow under the Sync button, point to your device name, and choose Set Up Sync. The Setup Device dialog box opens. The left column shows available playlists. The right column shows playlists that are currently used to sync songs to the device. To remove a playlist from the right column, click its name and choose Remove. To add a playlist to the right column, click its name in the left column and click Add. To see Auto Playlists specifically designed for syncing, click the My Playlists button under Available Playlists and choose Sync Playlists. If no playlist defines the kinds of songs you want to sync automatically, you can create your own. Click New Auto Playlist and give your playlist a name. For example, to make an Auto Playlist that copies new songs added to your library in the last week, create a criterion that specifies: Date added To Library is After Last 7 Days Give the new playlist a name, perhaps New This Week, and save it. Then click the Add button to copy it from Available Playlists to Playlists to Sync. If that’s the only playlist you put in the right column, then each time you connect your device, Media Player will copy only songs that you’ve added to your library within the last week. Optionally, choose Shuffle what syncs. If you do, each time you connect the device, files that are currently on the device will be removed automatically and replaced with songs that match the criteria of your selected Auto Playlists. So each time you connect the device, you automatically get however many songs your Playlist provides added to the device. Click Finish when you’re done, and Media Player will sync based on your selections. Remove the device when the syncing is finished. Any time you want to change the contents of your player, just connect it to the PC and click the Finish button.

Choose between manual and auto sync

You can choose whether you want to use manual sync or auto sync at any time. Just connect your device, click the arrow under Sync, click the device name, and choose Set Up Sync. To use manual syncing, clear the checkmark next to “Sync this device automatically.” To enable auto syncing, select (check) that same checkbox. Then click Finish.

Setting player options

To see other options that your player supports, connect the player, right-click its name in the Navigation pane, and choose Advanced Options. A Properties dialog box for the device opens. The options available to you will depend on the capabilities of your player. If you’re not sure what an option in the dialog box means, check the manual that came with your device. Or click the Help button in the dialog box for more information. Most portable players are USB mass storage devices. Once connected, these show up as a disk drive in your Computer folder. You can see the current contents of your device by opening its icon in your Computer folder. You can also erase any songs from the device using the same techniques you use to erase files from folders and drives.