How to Burn a CD with iTunes

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Things You Should Know

Create a new playlist and add the songs in your preferred order. You can then burn the playlist to a CD to listen to your mix anywhere.
You can add up to 80 minutes of music to your playlist.
Use a blank CD-R instead of a CD-RW, as CD-RWs won't play in all CD players.

Part 1 of 2:

Create a Playlist

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If prompted to update iTunes, click Download iTunes and follow any on-screen instructions before proceeding.

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Click File . It's in the top-left corner of the window (Windows) or the screen (Mac). A drop-down menu will appear.

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\n"> Select New . This option is near the top of the File drop-down menu. A pop-out menu will appear.

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Click Playlist . It's in the pop-out menu. Doing so causes a blank playlist to appear on the left side of the window.

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Enter a name for the playlist. Without clicking elsewhere, type in a name for your playlist, then press ↵ Enter . This will assign a name to your playlist.

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You can add around 80 minutes of music to one audio CD. [1] X Research source

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Burn the Playlist

If your computer either doesn't have a DVD-certified drive or doesn't have a CD slot at all, you'll need to buy an external DVD drive and plug it into your computer via a USB cable.
If you have a Mac, you'll almost certainly need to buy an external DVD drive. Make sure you buy an Apple-certified one which comes with a USB-C cable if your Mac doesn't have rectangular USB 3.0 slots.

The CD-R must be blank (never used) for this to work.
Avoid using a CD-RW for this process, as they don't always play when inserted into a CD player.

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Close any windows which open. Depending on your computer's settings, inserting a blank CD may trigger a new window to open; if so, just close the window(s).

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\n"> Select your playlist. Click your playlist's name in the left-hand sidebar.

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\n"> Click File . It's in the top-left corner of iTunes. A drop-down menu will appear.

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Click Burn Playlist to Disc . This option is in the File drop-down menu. Doing so brings up a new window.

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If you just want to store your songs on the CD without needing to play the CD in a stereo, you can check the "Data CD or DVD" box instead.

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It can take up to a minute per song when burning your CD, so be patient.

On some computers, the CD may automatically eject when it's done burning.

Community Q&A

How do I fix it so my Apple songs will burn properly? Community Answer

Songs from Apple Music, a subscription service offering over 30 million songs, cannot be burned on to a CD, because they were saved through the subscription service. You'll have to actually buy the song. If it is a song that you do, in fact, own, you may need to save it as a windows file, such as a WMA, instead of an Apple file.

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Why can I only burn 18 songs onto a CD from iTunes? Community Answer

You need to use CDs with a larger capacity. When you buy your CDs, look for ones with longer playing times.

Can I play the disk elsewhere besides my computer? Community Answer Yes, it should play on Blu-ray players and CD players.

Ask a Question 200 characters left Include your email address to get a message when this question is answered. Advertisement Your burned CD should play in most stereos. It's normal for CDs to burn between 70 and 75 minutes of audio instead of 80. Submit a Tip All tip submissions are carefully reviewed before being published Please provide your name and last initial Thanks for submitting a tip for review!