How to Burn a CD in Leopard

The current version of Mac's OS X software, 10.5, otherwise known as Leopard, greatly simplifies the process of disc burning. The capability to burn data discs is built into the Finder---the Mac OS X user interface. While other programs can be used to create certain types of discs, such as music or slideshows, the Finder allows simple access to any of those programs or lets the user choose to use the Finder itself.

Difficulty: Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Blank CD-R or CD-RW
• Recordable disc drive
• Mac OS 10.5.x

1. 
   The pop-up dialog of options when a recordable disc is inserted

   Insert a blank recordable CD into your Mac's disc drive. A dialog box will pop up with several options depending on the software installed on your computer. Choose "Open Finder" for burning files.

2. 
   The CD-burning window

   Double-click the disc icon, titled "Untitled CD," that now appears on your Finder. A folder entitled "Recordable CD" will open.

3. Drag and drop the files you want to burn into the folder. When you are done, click the "Burn" button in the upper right side of the folder.

4. Name your disc in the dialog box that comes up, and choose "Maximum Possible" for the speed. A status box will come up, showing you the process of the disc burning. Depending on the size of the files, this can take anywhere from seconds to several minutes.

5. Eject your disc once the burning process is complete. The disc can now be used in any Mac or PC.

Tips & Warnings

• To burn music to a disc you must use a specific program, most likely iTunes if you're on a Mac. In the original dialog box that comes up, choose "iTunes" as the program to open, then burn the CD in iTunes.
• Most CDs can only hold 700 MB of data. For larger files, consider a DVD or other backup media such as a flash drive.

References

• Apple Help section on burning discs

Resources

• Apple tutorial on burning music CDs in iTunes