Burn you CDs with XP

TECH TIP: Burn Your CDs with XP

Do you have a CD Burner? Do you have Windows XP operating System?

If you answered “yes” to both questions, you will like this Tech Tip. Windows XP has built into its operating system the ability to burn CDs in very simple steps. You will use your CD burner in ways you may not have ever thought of.

Here’s how it works.
Put in a blank CD into your CD burner. You will get a popup screen asking you what you want to do with the blank CD. One of the options is: “Open writable CD folder with Windows Explorer”. Click on that option. (Note: if you don’t get that popup, don’t worry – you can still use the XP burning tool – see Alternate Ways to Burn #1 and #2 below).

OK – After you click on “Open writable CD folder with Windows Explorer,” you will get a Window which shows the Drive letter assigned to it (look in the upper-left hand corner of the window.

Now, you can simply drag files or folders that you want to burn to that window. You will then get a message in the window, “Files Ready to Be Written to the CD”. Notice the little down arrow on the icon of the file or folder you dragged. It is a symbol that lets you know this file or folder has not been burned yet – it is waiting to be burned.

On the left side, click on the link, “Write these files to CD.” OR, you can click on File menu at the top and select, “Write these files to CD.” That’s it – your CD burns the files/folders you just dragged to the open window.

Alternate ways to burn - #1
Here are some alternate ways to burn files and folders. Right-click on a file or folder. Select Send To, then select the option, CD Drive (D:). (Your drive letter may be different).

You immediately get a popup message (a balloon) that says, “You have files waiting to be written to the CD.” Click on the balloon. You will see the file/folder you right-clicked on. Once again, click on, “Write these files to CD.” (You may right-click on other files or folder to add them to the CD).

Alternate ways to burn - #2.
You can also double-click My Computer, then double-click on your CD Drive. Now you can drag files or folders to the open window and burn them as mention above.

Audio CDs
You can burn audio CDs also. You do need to have Windows Media Player 9. Drag a music file – like an mp3 file – into the open CD Window and click on “Write these files to CD.” You will get the option to make an Audio CD or Make a Data CD. Select, “Make and Audio CD.” Your Windows Media player will open. Click on Copy (upper right hand corner). That’s it; you have an audio CD that any CD player can play.

Extra
If you have a CD you previously burned, you can continue to burn additional files or folders to it. Just open the CD and drag the files or folders you want to add to the CD. Then click on, “Write these files to CD.” You can continue adding files or folders to a CD until you fill it up (usually with around 700 MB). Cool! (Note: You cannot add music files to a previously recorded Music CD – sorry!)

DLA
When you begin working with your burner, some of you may be seeing an additional option called DLA (Drive Letter Access). This is an option that some computers have that gives you even more ways of making CDs. But, you’ll have to wait until next week to learn about this.

Meanwhile – happy burning!

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