Make an MP3 CD in Windows Media Player 11

MP3 CDs make it easy to listen to hours of music without carrying around a stack of standard audio CDs. Eight to 10 albums can be stored on one MP3 disc. To create custom MP3 CDs for use at home and in the car, launch Windows Media Player 11 and follow this guide.

How to Create an MP3 CD in Windows Media Player 11

The first task is to make sure that WMP 11 will burn the right sort of CD. Check that the data disc option is set—and not the audio CD one. Then, drag the music you want into WMP 11 and burn it to the MP3 CD.

1. Switch to Full Mode view if it isn't already displayed by clicking the View menu tab at the top of the screen and selecting the Full Mode option.

   If you don't see the main menu tab, hold down CTRL and press M to turn on the classic menu system. You can do the same thing with the keyboard by holding down the CTRL key and pressing 1.

2. Click the Burn menu tab at the top of the screen to switch the display to CD burning. Look in the right pane to see what burn mode WMP is configured for. If it isn't already set for creating a Data disc, click the small down-arrow underneath the Burn menu tab and select the Data CD option from the list.

3. To make an MP3 CD compilation, you need to select the songs in your WMP library to burn. To see all the music that is currently in it, click on the Music folder (underneath Library) in the left pane.

4. There are several ways you can drag and drop files into the burn list (right pane). You can drag across individual files one after another, click and drag entire albums, or highlight a selection of songs to drop into the burn list.

   To select several tracks at once to drag across, hold down the ​CTRL key and click the songs you want. To save time, you can also drag and drop any previously created playlists you have into WMP's Burn List section.

   If you are new to Windows Media Player 11 and need to find out how to build up a music library, our tutorial on adding digital music to Windows Media Player will show you how.

5. Insert a blank disc (CD-R or rewritable disc CD-RW) into your CD/DVD drive.

   When using a CD-RW that already has information on it, use Windows Media Player to erase the data before proceeding. To erase a rewritable disc, right-click the drive letter associated with the optical disc (in the left pane) and choose Erase Disc. A warning message displays on the screen advising that all information on the disc will be erased. To continue, click Yes.

6. To create your custom MP3 CD, click the Start Burn button in the right pane. Wait for the file writing process to complete. The disc should eject automatically unless you disabled this option in WMP's settings.