Making your own audio CDs is a large part of MP3s popularity. Most store bought CDs contain many songs you don't end up listening to. Making your own CDs takes care of that.
To make your own CDs, you need:
- A CD burner drive on your computer
- CD burning software
- Blank CD-R or CD-RW discs
- Music tracks on your computer
For casual use, I would get inexpensive CD-R media (CD-RW is more expensive and not compatible with many CD players). I use Memorex, TDK, or any other name brand that is on sale at the local computer store. Ordering media over the Internet is usually much more expensive due to shipping charges. If you want the very best quality CD-R media and price is not an issue, try Kodak.
If you don't have music tracks on your computer to burn onto CD, see our guide to getting MP3s for a couple of ways to get music files. For use in most music players, it is easiest to have WAVE files for burning. If the WAVE files have not been converted to another format (i.e. MP3, WMA etc.) they will inherently have the highest sound quality and not need to be converted before burning. If all you have is MP3 files, many programs (like MP3 CD Burner) convert MP3 to WAVE during the burning process so your final CD will be ready for play in any CD player.
Once you have all the necessary equipment, the process is easy as following the burning directions in your software program. Many programs include a guide for burning files on your computer to CD. If you are having trouble with this, download and try MP3 CD Burner. The burning process is very easy and the help menu in the program provides a step by step guide to CD creation.