The CDBurner application lets you compile the
contents of an audio CD and burn it to a disc. In order to do this,
you need a sound card (so that you can hear the audio files) and
a CD-R(W) drive.

Before you get started, here are some things worth keeping in mind:
- CDBurner makes CDs in "disc-at-once"
mode. You can't add a track to a disc after you've already started
to burn it; you have to compile and burn the entire CD at once.
- You can burn any audio file.
- You'll get the best results with uncompressed WAV or AIFF files
in 16-bit stereo with a 44.1kHz sample rate. With input files
in this format, CDBurner doesn't have to resample
the audio it's processing, which results in more accurate sound
reproduction on the CD you burn.
- If you delete files elsewhere on your hard drive that are included
in a saved CDBurner project the files are deleted
from the project. This is because the files that appear in the
CDBurner window as you compile the contents of
a CD are referenced by path name to the actual files, but are
not the files themselves.
Here's how to use CDBurner:
- Launch CDBurner to open a project window.
- In the lower-left corner of the panel is pop-menu with the names
of all CD-R(W) devices attached to your system. If you have more
than one device, you can select it here. If you have no CD-R(W)
device, the popup tells you it can't detect a device.
- Drop the files - each becomes a track - you want to include
on your CD into the project window (you can download files to
practice with from any number of Web sites). Add more tracks or
delete them via the Disc menu. Choose Open
Project from the Project menu to bring
up a Burner window with a saved work-in-progress.
- Click on a file to highlight it; notice the time fields (which
are live unless the file is playing) to the right of the Tracks
window. The fields are Start and End
time, for the length of time into the beginning or from the end
of a file you that want it to start or stop playing; and Fade
In/Fade Out to set the length of time to fade from no
sound to normal volume and back again. You set Start/End
times by typing in the specific field or by dragging the red Track
Length sliders at the ends of the Track Length
Bar (the lower of the two bars at the beginning and the
drag the right sliider to the left to shorten it at the end. Grab
the small Fade Arrow in the center of the left
or right Track Length Slider to select fade times.
Changes you make with the sliders are reflected in the time fields.
Pregap accounts for the sound between tracks,
such a crowd noise on a live recording. If Pregap
sound is between tracks 1 and 2, its's actually part of Track
2 - although if you skip from one track to another, you don't
here the Pregap. You can set the Pregap
with small upward-pointing arrow slider in the Track Length
Bar.
The Gain slider below the preceding settings
sets the volume for a specific track as it will be on the disc;
that is, Gain makes the sound of a track as burned
louder or softer.
The Volume slider to the right of the
standard play controls affects the sound level of playback - what
you hear through your speakers.
- Once you're satisfied with your contents and the adjustments
you've made to the tracks, choose Project->Save
to save your work.
- With a burnable disc in your CD burner, click Burn Now!
- The CDBurner window shows a buffering progress
window that indicates the conversion of data to CD format. A dark
green progress bar changes to light green to indicate the percentage
of the burn completed; a counter increments to show the same thing.
Note: During the burn process only the Abort
button is enabled; if you click it you disc bacomes a coaster.
- If the burn doesn't work, you see a specific error message that
tells you why not.
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