How to Burn Music to CDs in iTunes

Burn an audio CD, MP3 CD, or data disc (including DVD) using iTunes 11

By
Mark Harris
Mark Harris
Writer
  • University of Wolverhampton
Mark Harris is a former writer for Lifewire who wrote about the digital music scene and streaming music services in an easy to understand, no-nonsense manner.
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Updated on August 24, 2022

In This Article

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What to Know

  • Select Library > select square icon > New > New Playlist > name playlist > add desired songs > Done.
  • Next, select Playlist > right-click created playlist > select Burn Playlist to Disc.
  • Next, choose burning device (if necessary), preferred speed, disc format > select Burn > wait until finished.

This article explains how to burn music to a CD or DVD from iTunes 11.

Switch to Library View Mode

First, ensure you are in Library view mode and not in the iTunes Store. You can easily switch between the two by using the button near the top right-hand side of the screen. Click the Library button if you are in the iTunes Store.

Create a Playlist

Before you can burn music to CD / DVD in iTunes 11 you will need to compile a playlist.

  1. Start by clicking the small square icon in the top left-hand corner of the screen. From the list of options, highlight New and then click on the New Playlist option.
  2. Type in a name for your playlist in the text box and hit the Enter key.
  3. Add songs and albums to the playlist by dragging and dropping them. To view a list of songs in your iTunes library, click the Songs menu tab. Similarly, to view your library as albums, click the Albums menu.
  4. Continue adding to your playlist, but check to see how much space will be taken up on your optical disc (displayed in the status bar at the bottom of the screen). If creating an audio CD, make sure you don't exceed its capacity -- usually 80 minutes. If you want to create an MP3 CD or data disc, keep an eye on the capacity reading of the playlist — this is normally a maximum of 700Mb for a standard data CD.
  5. When you're happy with the compilation, click Done.

 Burning Your Playlist

  1. Click the Playlist menu (centered near the top of the screen).
  2. Right-click the playlist you created in the previous step and select Burn Playlist to Disc.
  3. In the Burn Settings menu that is now displayed, choose the disc burning device you want to use by using the drop-down menu (automatically selected if you only have one).
  4. For the Preferred Speed option, either leave at the default setting or choose a speed. When creating an audio CD it is often best to burn as slow as possible.
  5. Choose a disc format to burn. To create a CD that will be playable on a wide range of players (home, car, etc.), choose the audio CD option. You may also want to use the Sound Check option too which makes all the songs in your compilation play at the same volume (or loudness level).
  6. Click the Burn button to begin writing the music to disc. It may take some time depending on the disc format and speed you have chosen.
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