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Burning a CD

If you are familiar with the use of floppy disks or Zip disks, CD burning will quickly become easy.

1. Switch to the Finder. You may either click on the smiley-face at the end of the Dock, or simply click on the desktop background.
2. Insert a blank CD-R or CD-RW.
3. If you get a dialog saying "You inserted a blank CD. Choose what to do..."
   1. Choose Action: Open Finder
   2. Click OK. [Note: If you first check Make this action the default, you won't have to answer this question in the future.]
4. A CD icon will appear on the desktop. You can click on its name ("Untitled CD") to change it to what you want.
5. At this point, the CD can be treated like a floppy disc: you'll drag files to it.
   1. You may double-click the CD icon to open it and view files on it.
   2. You may drag any files or folders to the CD.
   3. You may remove (trash) any files you've dragged to the CD if you change your mind and don't want to burn copies of them. (Don't trash any of the original files, just ones from the CD.)
   4. You may move icons around in the CD for appearance.
6. When you've finished dragging the files/folders you want, then drag the CD icon to the Trash. The Trash icon will change to an Eject icon (a triangle over a bar). The CD will not eject: instead, the system will ask if you want to burn the CD.
7. • Click Burn if you want to go ahead with the burning.
   • Click Cancel if you want to go back and continue dragging files and folders.
   • Click Eject to eject the unused CD. The disc will be left blank, and you can use it later.
8. It will take several minutes for the CD to burn. During the burn, the CD icon will disappear from the desktop. After the burn, it will show up on the desktop again. At this point, you can treat the CD like any pre-recorded CD.
9. You may eject the finished CD at this point by dragging it to the trash.