How to Copy a CD

How to Copy an Audio CD

A CD can hold up to 80 minutes of uncompressed audio. Because of that, it is still a favorite for recording studios to put music on. Copying an audio CD is possible now with burning software and the necessary hardware built into the computer. To copy an audio CD, all you need is to the original CD, your computer to have a CD burner and then a blank CD that can hold the audio.

The first step is to put the CD into the computer. Upload the songs from the CD to your hard drive so that you now have a new copy on your computer. Some computers have the ability to burn straight from the CD to the new CD, but if you don’t have two CD-ROM slots, that’s not possible. Once the files are on your computer, remove the audio CD and place the blank one in.

Select all of the songs, open them in the burning program and then hit “burn.” This will allow the CD to begin burning. Depending on the length and the speed in which your burner works, it could be done in a few minutes or up to ten minutes. Upon completion, try and play the songs from the CD. If it works, you’ve successfully copied audio files to a new CD.

How to Copy Data CDs

Putting data on a new CD is a very simple process. Put the old CD in your computer and let it load. Drag the files into a new folder so that they are stored in an organized fashion. Remove the old CD and place a new CD into the CD-ROM drive. Drag the folder over to the CD-ROM drive and right click on the drive. Select “Write these files to CD…” and the process will begin immediately. When it is all finished, remove the CD and try using it on a different computer to make sure that the files were written to that CD properly.