Can iTunes Burn DVDs?
If your computer has an optical DVD writer -- not just a DVD reader (ROM) -- you can create data discs with programs such as iTunes. With additional software, you may be able to make copies of DVDs you own or create your own home movies on writable DVDs; however, iTunes has only limited functionality for burning DVDs.
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Background
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ITunes is Apple's software for managing your iPod, iPhone or iPad. In addition to being able to sync music and other media onto your devices, iTunes functions as a media player that allows you to enjoy your music or videos on your computer. With iTunes, you can also add music to your digital library from a CD by ripping the songs to your hard drive. The iTunes store has a digital movie catalog that you can browse to purchase movies and download them to your hard drive for watching on your computer, iPod or iPad.
Considerations
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ITunes is capable of backing up your media by allowing you to burn the media onto a CD or DVD. You may prefer to create your backups on DVDs because they have a higher capacity than DVDs, thus you will require fewer discs to back up your data. For example, a 4.7GB writable DVD can hold nearly 1,000 songs (with a 5MB size) while the typical writable CD has only 700MB of storage. A CD can accommodate only 140 songs at the same 5MB file size.
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Significance
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You cannot create a playable DVD with iTunes using movies that you have purchased from the iTunes store or other movies that you have digitally acquired. Thus, you cannot enjoy movies that you have purchased from the iTunes store on your television by burning a disc. However, you can still watch these movies on your television if you connect your computer to your television with an HDMI or other multimedia cable.
DVD Usage
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Although iTunes allows you to create data discs with burnable DVDs, you cannot necessarily watch purchased DVDs on your computer with iTunes or rip the movie from the disc to your computer. You must purchase DVDs that specifically include iTunes-compatible digital copies of the movies to watch them on your computer. You will still not be able to burn these movies to additional DVDs -- to create copies -- but iTunes will allow you to sync the digital movie to your iPod or other Apple device.
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