How do I Burn CDs for Free?
The Windows 7 Operating System has free, native utilities for burning data and audio CDs. There are also burning programs you can download and use for free. A data CD holds files such as documents, photos and mp3 audio files. This type of CD is used to back up or transfer files between computers. It's created using the burning utility included in the Windows Explorer file browser. Audio CDs contain audio files that can be played on a computer or audio CD player. This type of CD is created using the Windows Media Player software.
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Instructions
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Data CD
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1
Insert a recordable CD into the computer's CD burner.
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2
Click on the "Burn files to disk using Windows Explorer" option when the AutoPlay dialog box appears. If the AutoPlay dialog box does not appear, click on "Computer" option under the "Start" menu and double-click on the CD burner icon.
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3
Type a name for the disk in the "Disk Title" text box.
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4
Click on the "Like a USB flash drive" option, if you want to use the CD on a computer running Windows XP or later and want to be able to add and delete files from the disk. Click on the "With a CD/DVD player" option, if you want to be able to use the disk with any computer and do not want to be able to add or delete files.
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5
Open the folder on your computer's hard drive that contains the files that you want to burn to the disk.
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Drag the file or files that you want to burn to the empty CD burner folder.
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Click the "Burn to disk" button when you are finished adding files to the disk.
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8
Remove the CD from the burner when the drive opens.
Audio CD
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9
Insert a recordable CD into the computer's CD burner. Close the "AutoPlay" dialog box, if it appears.
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10
Open the "Windows Media Player" program.
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11
Click the "Switch to Library" button at the top of the screen, if the program starts in the Now Playing mode.
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12
Click the "Burn" tab at the top of the screen.
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13
Click the "Burn Options" button and click on the "Audio CD" option.
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14
Click the "Clear list" button if there are entries in the Burn pane.
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Drag songs from the details pane in the middle of the window to the list pane on the right side of the window.
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Drag entries up and down the list on the right side of the window to put them in the correct order.
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Click the "Start burn" button at the bottom of the list pane to burn the songs to the disk.
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Tips & Warnings
If your laptop or computer doesn't have a built-in burner, you'll need an external burner, which you connect with a USB cable. If you don't want to use Microsoft's native burning programs, there are several free burning tools, such as CDBurnerXP Pro 3.
