Burning your own CDs

With Windows Media Player, you can burn your own audio CDs or data CDs from the digital media files stored in your library. Live streams, such as radio stations, cannot be burned to CDs.

You can use the Player to burn the following types of CDs:

Audio CD. Burn music CDs similar to those that you buy. The Player converts tracks from the music playlists in your library into .cda files, and then burns them to the compact disc. Audio CDs can be played in most computers and in home and car CD players that play CD-R and CD-RW discs. You can burn an audio CD from the following file types stored in your library:

• Windows Media Audio (WMA) files with a .wma extension
• .mp3 files
• .wav files
• Data CD. Burn CDs to back up the digital media files and playlists in your library for safe storage. You can also burn tracks from the music playlists in your library to create a data CD that can contain more than eight hours of music, depending upon the quality level (bit rate) used to burn the files and the file types. Only certain CD players and computers can play these data CDs (also known as media CDs).
• HighMAT Audio . Burn another type of data CD that plays only in CD players that can play Windows Media Audio (WMA) files. Files are converted into WMA files, which are smaller than .mp3 files. Only certain portable CD players can play Windows Media Audio files. For more information about HighMAT, see the Microsoft Web site.

To burn a CD, you must have a CD burner attached to your computer and a blank CD to which you can burn tracks.

This section covers:

• To burn your own CD
• To erase a CD-RW

Related topics

• Using CDs
• Setting device options