# Burning a CD from MP3's? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [December 17, 2013, 2:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/burning-a-cd-from-mp3s/676552 "2013-12-17T14:24:43Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Atomic\_Mama](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b5ac83/32.png) [@Atomic\_Mama](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atomic_Mama)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2013, 2:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/burning-a-cd-from-mp3s/676552/1 "2013-12-17T14:24:43Z")
Ignorant 64-y-o female here … many international friends have sent me multitudes of RARE blues in MP3 (or whatever) format(s). How can I burn these, individually, or as a group, to CDs – so I can play them on my radio show? I have an iPod and iTunes, which I can use, in a rudimentary fashion … but I want this material on CDs. help Help HELP … Thanks!!! ---
**Author:** ![Munch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/munch/32/5281_2.png) [@Munch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Munch)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2013, 2:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/burning-a-cd-from-mp3s/676552/2 "2013-12-17T14:37:20Z")
1. How did they send them to you? 2. Can you confirm if they’re in mp3 format? The best way to do it is to put them in a folder on your harddrive, go into iTunes, direct iTunes to that folder (File-\>“Add Folder to Library…”), create a playlist for each CD you want to burn, right-click on a playlist, select “Burn Playlist to CD”. Oh, you’ll also want to have a burnable CD in your CD-drive. ---
**Author:** ![don\_t\_ask](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@don\_t\_ask](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/don_t_ask)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2013, 2:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/burning-a-cd-from-mp3s/676552/3 "2013-12-17T14:37:23Z")
Download [BurnAware Free](http://www.burnaware.com/features/). It is very simple to use and will walk you through the process of “burning a CD.” Or what **Munch** says. I forget about iTunes because I only use it for stuff I buy through them. ---
**Author:** ![Amateur\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/59ef9b/32.png) [@Amateur\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amateur_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2013, 2:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/burning-a-cd-from-mp3s/676552/4 "2013-12-17T14:40:34Z")
Be aware that some tools do a lousy job of converting MP3s on the fly when burning to CD (AAC) format. If you get poor results, convert them to a more stable format like WAV before burning. ---
**Author:** ![bump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7c8e57/32.png) [@bump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bump)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2013, 4:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/burning-a-cd-from-mp3s/676552/5 "2013-12-17T16:25:16Z")
> [@Amateur\_Barbarian](#): > > Be aware that some tools do a lousy job of converting MP3s on the fly when burning to CD (AAC) format. If you get poor results, convert them to a more stable format like WAV before burning. CDs are actually 44.1kHz WAV files, not AAC (sort of a successor format to MP3). iTunes uses AAC as its encoding format. ---
**Author:** ![beowulff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beowulff/32/542_2.png) [@beowulff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beowulff)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2013, 4:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/burning-a-cd-from-mp3s/676552/6 "2013-12-17T16:58:02Z")
iTunes can do this all by itself. Just select a playlist, and choose “burn.” ---
**Author:** ![Amateur\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/59ef9b/32.png) [@Amateur\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amateur_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2013, 6:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/burning-a-cd-from-mp3s/676552/7 "2013-12-17T18:03:47Z")
> [@Amateur\_Barbarian](#): > > Be aware that some tools do a lousy job of converting MP3s on the fly when burning to CD (AAC) format. If you get poor results, convert them to a more stable format like WAV before burning. > [@bump](#): > > CDs are actually 44.1kHz WAV files, not AAC (sort of a successor format to MP3). iTunes uses AAC as its encoding format. I was thinking AIFF, which is a near-twin of WAV. Oh, well. In my experience, using a CD burning tool to pull directly from MP3 files is hit or miss - 8 tracks will burn fine, one will have some odd glitch, and the tenth will be flawed all through. By preconverting to another… less compressed?.. format, the burn process is always clean. (This is true across quite a few tools, not just OS-level burn-me-a-disc features.) ---
**Author:** ![engineer\_comp\_geek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/engineer_comp_geek/32/504_2.png) [@engineer\_comp\_geek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/engineer_comp_geek)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2013, 9:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/burning-a-cd-from-mp3s/676552/8 "2013-12-17T21:03:39Z")
In my experience CD burning programs will usually handle MP3 files but on rare occasions you will have problems. If you convert the MP3 files to WAV first you usually won’t have a problem. I use audacity to convert between formats. There are other programs that can do it. Audacity is free but it’s a little unintuitive at first. For example you need to figure out that you don’t want to “save” your audio file as another format. What you want to do instead is “export” your audio file o the format you want. Then when audacity asks you to save when you exit, don’t bother. Once you figure out its quirks it’s easy to use. ---
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2013, 9:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/burning-a-cd-from-mp3s/676552/9 "2013-12-17T21:43:40Z")
> [@engineer\_comp\_geek](#): > > In my experience CD burning programs will usually handle MP3 files but on rare occasions you will have problems. If you convert the MP3 files to WAV first you usually won’t have a problem. > > I use audacity to convert between formats. There are other programs that can do it. Audacity is free but it’s a little unintuitive at first. For example you need to figure out that you don’t want to “save” your audio file as another format. What you want to do instead is “export” your audio file o the format you want. Then when audacity asks you to save when you exit, don’t bother. Once you figure out its quirks it’s easy to use. Yes, it’s a very good program, but to save into certain formats (AAC for sure, and I think others too) you have to go find and install add-ins from the internet. If the OP calls herself ignorant, this is not the way to go. ---
**Author:** ![Duke\_of\_York](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/f6c823/32.png) [@Duke\_of\_York](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duke_of_York)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2013, 10:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/burning-a-cd-from-mp3s/676552/10 "2013-12-17T22:14:56Z")
You can download a free burning software such as ImgBurn and simply burn them on your CD as data. I don’t think you need to convert them to another format ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2013, 10:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/burning-a-cd-from-mp3s/676552/11 "2013-12-17T22:21:41Z")
> [@Duke\_of\_York](#): > > You can download a free burning software such as ImgBurn and simply burn them on your CD as data. I don’t think you need to convert them to another format Only some CD players have the ability to read and play data files, though. ---
**Author:** ![Kobal2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kobal2/32/20_2.png) [@Kobal2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kobal2)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2013, 10:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/burning-a-cd-from-mp3s/676552/12 "2013-12-17T22:28:16Z")
Don’t most CD players natively read .mp3 these days anyway ? I know I had an .mp3 walkman (discman ? Walkdisc ? I dunno) back in college, and that was… well, let’s just say it was The Past. ---
**Author:** ![Duke\_of\_York](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/f6c823/32.png) [@Duke\_of\_York](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duke_of_York)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2013, 10:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/burning-a-cd-from-mp3s/676552/13 "2013-12-17T22:36:02Z")
> [@Thudlow\_Boink](#): > > Only some CD players have the ability to read and play data files, though. I have never owned a CD player that didn’t play data, and I stopped using CD’s years ago in favor of DVD players The OP said she wanted to play them on her radio show, so I’m assuming a studio would have equipment to play anything. I’m thinking that if she copied the files onto a usb drive they could play from that too. ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2013, 10:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/burning-a-cd-from-mp3s/676552/14 "2013-12-17T22:52:47Z")
> [@Kobal2](#): > > Don’t most CD players natively read .mp3 these days anyway ? I know I had an .mp3 walkman (discman ? Walkdisc ? I dunno) back in college, and that was… well, let’s just say it was The Past. Well, some of our pasts are past-er than others. I still have a CD player that I bought before I’d ever heard of mp3s. I don’t know what kind of CD players (if any) they’re selling these days, but with older equipment I wouldn’t make any assumptions. ---
**Author:** ![Atomic\_Mama](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b5ac83/32.png) [@Atomic\_Mama](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atomic_Mama)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2013, 7:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/burning-a-cd-from-mp3s/676552/15 "2013-12-23T19:02:45Z")
Thanks a bazillion, gang! Now I just have find the time to test all the methods 🙂