CD Burner

With RealPlayer and optical recording media (CD-R or CD-RW), you can create custom audio CDs containing audio tracks that can be played on standard CD players. You can also create custom data CDs with copies of media files from your music library. (See Audio versus Data CD for more information.)

Premium disc burning features are marked with

Special system requirements

· A CD-R or CD-RW drive.

·Blank optical discs.

·Up to 700 MB temporary free disk space for MP3 CDs.
 

Overview

When you create a custom CD, you are transferring media files from your computer to an optical disc (CD-R or CD-RW). You can transfer files that you have downloaded from the Internet or saved to My Library, but you cannot transfer media that is streamed to your computer. You can create either a standard audio CD or an MP3 CD (audio files only) or a data CD containing any of the files listed in My Library. Browse through the clips in My Library to find the files you want to transfer, select a CD type, and then burn the files to a CD.

Note: Audio and MP3 CDs that are burned onto CD-RW discs cannot always be read by standard CD players or CD-ROM drives.

Open the CD Burner

You can open the CD Burner from any of the following locations:

·         From the Player menus, select Tools  > CD >  CD Burner.

·         In the Tasks area of the My Library Sidebar, Select CD Burner  > View...

·         From the Current Burner/Device menu at the top of the Burn/Transfer page, Select CD Burner.

Select CD Type

You can choose to create one of the following CD types:

CD Type		Description
Audio CD		Creates an audio CD that can be played on standard CD players. Files are added as audio tracks on the CD at the same quality level as a standard audio CD. Attention: The audio quality on your CD is only as good as the original material you are burning. Low bit-rate The speed of a connection, how fast information can be passed to your computer over an Internet or network connection. Sometimes known as bandwidth. source files have less audio data than CD quality source files. When creating an audio CD, RealPlayer will approximate any missing audio data. Note: CD-R audio discs can be played on any standard CD player, but not all CD players can play CD-RW audio discs. Check your equipment specifications for compatibility.
MP3 CD		Converts (as necessary) and transfers selected audio files as MP3 audio tracks, creating a CD that can be played on standard MP3 capable players. RealPlayer uses the closest equivalent bit-rate during conversion and then temporarily saves the new files before they are transferred. This may require up to 700 MB (one full CD) of free disc space. Note: If you do not have the CD-Quality MP3  plug-in installed, a link is provided.
Data CD		Saves media files of any format to a CD-R or CD-RW disc. This disc can later be read by standard computer CD-ROM drives. Media files are copied to this custom data CD in the same format and quality as they exist on your local Refers to computer resources (such as drives or files) that are part of a computer, or available on a local area network (LAN). drive. This mode is intended primarily for storage and backup of media files. Note: Only media types supported by RealPlayer can be added in this mode.

Add Tracks from My Library to a Custom CD

Select Add Tracks from My Library in the Tasks area of the sidebar to browse and select the files you want to add to your custom CD. Only media that is on a local Refers to computer resources (such as drives or files) that are part of a computer, or available on a local area network (LAN). drive can be added to a CD. Clips are listed by clip categories, including CD History, which lists the clips and CD type of recently burned CDs. (See CD Burner Preferences for details.)

Note: You can also use Add Clips in the Edit menu to select files.

Edit Options

Options are specific to the CD Type you have selected:

CD Type		Available Options
Audio CD		Drive Options Select the Write Speed or click Advanced Options to modify your CD Burner Preferences. CD Text Enter the CD text you would like for the current CD. CD text appears in the front display of many newer CD players. Transitions 2-second gap: Choose to keep or remove the customary two second gap between audio tracks. Crossfade ( ): Overlaps the end of each track with the beginning of the next. Enter the number of seconds of overlap. Audio Filters ( ) Adjusts the volume of each track so they all have the same volume. Use these as my default settings: Select this option to save the current choices as your default setting for Audio mode.
MP3 CD ( )		Drive Options Select the Write Speed or click Advanced Options to modify your CD Burner Preferences.   Disc Options Add a name to your disc. Your computer will display this name. Create a multi-session disc: Allows you to add additional tracks at a later time by not finalizing The final process of creating a CD, where the list of tracks and other reference information used by CD players, is added to the CD. A CD must be finalized before it can be read or played by a CD player. Un-finalized CDs, however, can often be read by computers and MP3 players. the disc.   MP3 CD Playlist Options Creates playlists on the disc (M3U M3U is a file format for playlists of audio and video files (usually in MP3 format), used by media players to locate and play media files. format), based on the clip info for the files that are to be burned onto the CD; one playlist for each artist and/or artist and album. MP3 CD Folder Options Organize MP3 files on the disc in folders, based on clip info about the artist and album. Choose to create no folders, folders by artist, or folders and subfolders by artist/album. You can also have playlists (from the previous option) placed in their own folder.   Use these as my default settings: Select this option to save the current choices as your default setting for MP3 mode.
Data CD		Drive Options Select the Write Speed or click Advanced Options to modify your CD Burner Preferences. Disc Options CD name: Add a name to your disc. Create a multi-session disc ( ): Allows you to add additional tracks at a later time by not finalizing the disc. Data CD Folder Options ( ) Do not organize files in folders (default): Puts all files in the root (top-level) of the CD. Organize files... ( ): Organize media files on the disc in folders based on the clip info about the artist and album. Select folders by artist, or folders and subfolders by artist and album. Use these as my default settings: Select this option to save the current choices as your default setting for Data mode.

Additional CD Tasks

The following commands are available in the drop-down menu:

Command		Description
Print Jewel Case		Opens the Print Jewel Case dialog.
Remove Duplicate Tracks		Removes duplicate tracks from the queue. (When you queue up large numbers of clips, especially from playlists, it is possible to create multiple tracks from the same clip.) If multiple copies are not your intention, click Remove Duplicates to identify and remove all but the first instance of a queued track. (This will not affect a playlist on MP3 or Media discs, which can have multiple references to the same file.)
Erase CD		Erases all data on the disc so that it can be reused. (Available when using re-writable media, for example a CD-RW disc.)
Eject CD		Opens door and extends CD tray of active drive.

Burn a CD

Step-by-Step: Burn a CD

Set-up

1.From the menu bar, select Tools > CD > CD Burner ..

2.Insert a blank disc into your CD-R or CD-RW drive.

3.In the Tasks area of the sidebar, click the Select CD Type button. Choose a CD type (Audio, MP3, or Data).

Add Tracks

4.Click Add Tracks from My Library in the Tasks area to open a list of clip categories.

5.Select a clip category from the drop-down list. If a list of subcategories is displayed, select a subcategory. Clips are listed below the clip category box.

6.Browse and select the clips you want to add to the disc. (To select multiple clips, use the CTRL or SHIFT keys as you would with Windows Explorer.)

Note: Only clips that point to media files that are located on your computer or LAN can be added to a CD. Clips that link to media located on the Internet will generate an error message and will not be burned.

7.Click Add Selected to CD to add the selected clips to the CD Burner queue. The selected clips are displayed in the queue with a Ready to Burn status; the CD Status indicator (below the queue) shows the minutes required for download (Audio CD) or file space (MP3 or Data CD) still available on the disc, and the total minutes or file size you have queued so far.

Note: If excess clips are added to the queue, they are labeled Will Not Fit and will not be transferred.

8.Repeat steps 4 through 7 for each clip that you want to add to your disc.

9.If desired, rearrange the selected tracks by dragging and dropping them within the list. To delete a track, select the track and press [DELETE] on your keyboard.

Note: Before burning, make sure your disc is organized the way you want it.  Once a CD-R disc is written and finalized, it cannot be modified or added to.

Options

10.Click Edit Options... to change any of the options for your burn. (See Edit Option above for the options available for each CD Type.)

If you are using RealPlayer Plus or are a Real Services member you can choose to create an MP3 or multi-session CD. (Multi-session CDs are not finalized; additional files can be added later, even when using CD-R discs.) To create a multi-session CD, check Create a multi-session disc in Options before you begin your burn.

Note: Some CD players can not play CDs until they have been finalized.

Burn CD

11.Click Burn Your CD. The transfer status of your clips will change to pending, then ready to burn and RealPlayer will begin to write tracks to your disc. Once a track has been written, the transfer status will change to On CD.

12.If you did not select the multi-session disc option, the CD Burner will finalize your disc after all tracks have been transferred.

13.When all processes are done, the player will eject the finished CD.

14.Optional: choose one of the following CD Burner options from the sidebar:

Burn Another Copy	Place another blank disk in the drive and burn another CD with the same clips.
Start A New Burn	Starts the Create a CD process from the beginning.
Print Jewel Case	Opens the Print Jewel Case dialog.

Tip: The quickest and easiest way to create a custom CD is to first select a playlist in My Library, and then click CD Burner > Add Selected Clips in the Tasks area of the sidebar to open the CD Burner page with all the playlist's clips listed and ready to burn.

Erase CD-RW

When you are using a CD-RW capable drive and disc, you can erase the CD by selecting Additional CD Tasks > Erase CD from the Tasks area of the CD Burner sidebar.