How to Burn an MP3 CD in Windows Media Player 12

Store several albums on one MP3 CD for hours of nonstop digital music

What to Know

  • Go to Burn and set the burn mode to Data disc. Drag MP3 files into Burn list. Insert a blank CD-R or CD-RW and choose Start burn.
  • Change the burn mode: Select the Burn options drop-down menu and choose Data CD or DVD. The mode changes to Data disc.
  • Erase data on a disc: Right-click the drive letter in the left panel associated with the optical disc and choose Erase disc.

If your computer has a CD-RW drive, you can create MP3 CDs containing hours of music. Here's how to burn MP3s to a CD data disc in Windows Media Player 12.

How to Burn an MP3 CD in Windows Media Player

To burn audio CDs with Windows Media Player, follow these steps:

  1. Launch Windows Media Player and select the Burn tab in the upper-right corner.

    Burn tab in Windows Media Player
  2. Set the burn mode to Data disc. If it says Audio CD, it isn't ready. To change the burn mode, select the Burn options drop-down menu in the upper-right corner and choose Data CD or DVD. The mode should change to Data disc.

    Data CD or DVD menu option in Windows Media Player
  3. Locate the MP3 files you want to copy to the CD in the left pane of Windows Media Player.

  4. Drag and drop single files, complete albums, playlists, or blocks of songs into the Burn list on the right side of WMP.

    Dragging one track to the Burn list in Windows Media Player

    To choose multiple tracks that aren't next to each other, hold down the Ctrl key while selecting tracks.

  5. Insert a blank CD-R or rewritable disc (CD-RW) into the optical drive.

    To erase the data that's on the disc, right-click the drive letter in the left panel associated with the optical disc and choose Erase disc.

  6. Select Start burn in the right panel and wait for the burning process to complete.

    Start burn button in Windows Media Player

Some CD players can only read audio discs, not data discs. Check the documentation for your sound system to see whether you can play MP3 CDs.

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