CD Burning software with new Macbook Pro

[Marco]

Guys,

I have a Macbook Pro with 15” Retina screen, bought new two months ago. I’ve been looking to see if there is any built-in CD burning software on my machine, but can’t find any. Where would some suitable (free) software be available to download and/or what do fellow Macbook Pro owners use for burning their discs? :)

Cheers!

Marco.

[Werner Berghofer]

Marco,

I’ve been looking to see if there is any built-in CD burning software on my machine, but can’t find any.
it’s directly built into the operating system. In a Finder window, do a right-click (or control-click) on any file name(s), and in the context menu the item “Burn <filename> to Disc …” should appear. If you prefer you may customize the Finder’s toolbar to include a “burn to disc” button.

Are you looking for special software to burn DVDs, Blu-ray discs or audio CDs?

Werner.

[Marco]

Thanks, Werner. Nice one :)

Does it burn FLACs? I tried burning FLACs using disk utility, and it didn’t work. Do I have to have to convert to AIFF?

Marco.

[Werner Berghofer]

Marco,

Does it burn FLACs? I tried burning FLACs using disk utility, and it didn’t work. Do I have to have to convert to AIFF?
do you want to burn a data CD or an audio CD? In the first case your Mac happily burns any type of file directly from the finder, but if you want to burn an audio CD from iTunes (came free with your Mac OS) the FLACs first need to be converted to an audio format supported by iTunes and imported into its library. See the Apple support document “iTunes 11 for Mac: Create your own CDs and DVDs (http://support.apple.com/kb/PH12148?viewlocale=en_US&locale=en_US)” for detailed instructions.

Werner.

[Gordon Steadman]

I find the easiest way is to use Audacity. Its a free download. You can set it to convert to Aiff in PREFS. Then open the FLAC file. Go to Export in the file menu. I have the desktop as the default for saving. Once you have then imported the AIFF into iTunes from the desktop, you can just dump the Audacity file in the bin. I tend to convert everything to Apple Lossless once its in iTunes although you could leave it as an AIFF if you feel it sounds better. If there is any difference, its a very small one indeed.

If I'm importing a lot of stuff, I avoid giving them a 'genre' until they are all done, so they end up all together. iTunes can then convert the whole lot to Lossless at one go and then you can finish the tags at the end. Once you've done it a few times its a doddle.

I've been doing that with the Charm site and the historical stuff. Some great recordings on there.

[Werner Berghofer]

Marco,

here a two more suggestions for free software for converting various audio file formats on a Mac:

• Max (http://sbooth.org/Max/) (unfortunately discontinued)
• XLD (http://tmkk.undo.jp/xld/index_e.html) (X Lossless Decoder)

Hope this helps,

Werner.

[Stratmangler]

Hi Marco

It sounds as though you're trying to burn files to CD to play on your CD player.
Do you still have access to a Windows machine?
If the answer is yes you can use a programme called Burner XP which will decompress the FLAC files to WAV for you before burning to CD.
If not you're probably looking at a fair amount of pre-burn conversions that you'll have to do manually.

[mimoser]

though audacicity is a great recording software, the best audio bulk conversion tool on the mac is imho:
xact: http://xact.scottcbrown.org
converts anything to everything.
- burning audio cds is easiest done in itunes: create playlist > burn to audio cd (maybe you have to change preferences first)
- burning mp3 cds for a car stereo is either done in itunes via playlist ((maybe you have to change preferences first) or the finder via folder and subfolders and rightclick > burn to CD
does your Mac come with a cd-burner? if not virtually every USB drive will work
;-)
Michael

PS and edit: first batch-convert flac to Apple lossless (or mp3 if you are relaxed about audio quality issues), then drag the .m4a/mp3 files onto the itunes icon …

[webby]

Marco,

+1 on XLD. I use it for ripping CD's and for converting FLAC to other formats.

I believe you can also burn FLAC files to CD and XLD will do the necessary conversion for you. Just open up the FLAC folder and choose the Burn option.

[Marco]

Thanks for your help, guys - much appreciated. A programme called Roxio Toast seems to have satisfied my CD burning needs for now, and with it I can also add CD text for the car :)

Marco.