I’ve already talked about how you can burn CDs and DVDs in Windows, so now it’s time to learn how to burn discs in OS X. It’s worth noting that even though you can burn Blu-ray discs in Windows, you cannot in OS X because no Mac computers have built-in Blu-ray support.
That’s okay, because most Windows computers don’t have Blu-ray burners and most people still burn DVDs and CDs. Plus, judging by the way Apple has completely removed the optical drive from the new MacBooks and MacBook Airs, burning CDs and DVDs on a Mac is likely to be a thing of the past soon, whether you like it or not.
When it comes to burning discs on a Mac, there are usually several scenarios: burning a data disc or ISO image, burning an audio CD, or burning a video DVD playing on a DVD player. Depending on what type of task you need to complete, you may have to use different software.
In this article, I will explain how to burn a disc in OS X for various purposes. I will also mention some Mac alternatives that you can use to burn CDs and DVDs. Unfortunately, with a Mac, you just have less choice. For example, Apple has iMovie to create cool, edited movies, but you can’t use iMovie to burn DVDs!
Burn a data disc or ISO image
Let’s start with a simple one: burning a simple data disc or ISO image file. For the ISO image, check out my previous post on burning ISO images with OS X. Burning a data disc is also very simple.
The first thing you need to do is copy all the data you want to write to a folder. It doesn’t really matter where the folder is or what name you give the folder; everything should be in one place.
Now just right click on the folder and select “Write Folder Name” to disk. If you do not already have a disc in your optical drive, you will receive a message asking you to insert it.
Then you can give your drive a name and choose the write speed, which should automatically be set to the maximum speed.
Click “Burn” and it will start burning the CD or DVD. For data discs, this is easy.
Burn an audio CD
On Windows, you can burn an Audio CD using Windows Media Player. On Mac, you can burn audio CDs using iTunes. Open iTunes and add all your music to your library. After you’ve added your music, you need to create a playlist.
Go ahead and select the songs you want on your audio CD, right click and select New Playlist From Selected. Note that if you are going to burn an audio CD, you may have no more than 72 minutes of audio. If you are burning an MP3 CD, you can add MP3 files up to 700MB.
You should now see the new playlist on the left, below the playlists. Click a playlist to select it. Now click “File” and select “Burn Playlist to Disc”.
The Burn Options dialog box appears, allowing you to choose how you want to create your Audio CD.
The main section is a disc format where you can choose between Audio CD (72 minutes), MP3 CD (700 MB), or Data CD / Data DVD. For an audio CD, you can choose how much space you want between songs, use a sound check to make sure the volume is the same for all songs, and include the CD lyrics so that the song name, artist, etc. appear on players disks.
Burn a DVD video
On Windows, you can burn DVD using Windows DVD Maker or a third-party program if you don’t have Windows 7 but don’t have Apple’s official DVD burning software on Mac. There used to be iDVD Author, but it was part of iLife 11, which you can still buy, but it’s old and probably not worth the money.
For Mac, you don’t have many options. The only free program I can recommend is Burn, which also hasn’t been updated since 2011, but works well enough for most people. Download the software first and then launch the app. If you receive a message that the program is blocked due to your security settings, go to System Preferences, click Security & Privacy, and click Open Anyway.
When the program opens, you will need to click on the DVD tab. Give your DVD a name and then click the dropdown menu and change the format from VCD to DVD-Video. Then click on the little plus sign in the lower left corner to add the video to your project.
Please note that if your video is not in the correct format, you will receive a message stating that it is incompatible and asking if you want to convert it to the correct format. To use this program, you need to have a video in MPG format.
Click the “Convert” button and the file will be automatically converted. If you cannot convert with this program, use a program such as HandBrake to convert the files for you.
Once you’ve added all your files, click the Burn button to start the burning process.
That’s all! It’s not sleek and the navigation controls for DVD are pretty basic, but it gets the job done for free. If you’re interested in creating custom themes for your DVD, customizing text, buttons, and more, you’ll need to shell out some money for a DVD maker program.
The most popular for Mac are Roxio MyDVD for $ 49.99 and Voilabits DVDCreator for $ 39.99. Roxio has been around for years and their software is excellent.
For $ 10 less, DVDCreator is also a great choice for DVD creation. You can purchase MyDVD here and DVDCreator here. Both programs are also reasonably priced given that they are quite feature-rich.
find the mistakes and resolve it
I wanted to mention a little disappointment if you’re having trouble burning a disc on a Mac. For some reason, SuperDrive on most Macs is just junk, and it often doesn’t burn discs properly.
The most common error that you will receive:
Unable to write disc due to an unexpected error (error: 0x8002006E)
The only solution, according to people on Apple forums, is to buy an external DVD burner and use that. Sadly, this is not a top priority for Apple, so they remove discs from their computers anyway.
If you don’t have another drive, try burning at a slower speed (maybe 1x or 2x) and try a different type of DVD. The drive is supposed to support + R and -R, but sometimes I find that one format works better and doesn’t crash as often as the other. It’s a lot of trial and error.
Hopefully this article helps you get everything you need to write on OS X. If you have any questions, feel free to comment. Enjoy!
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