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How to burn MP3 to an Audio CD in Windows 10 (4 easy ways)

How to burn MP3 to an Audio CD in Windows 10 (4 easy ways)

This tutorial will show you step by step how to burn MP3 files to an Audio CD in Windows 10. You will be able to play this CD on any CD player or car stereo.

Methods:

Windows Media Player

Ashampoo Burning Studio Free

ImgBurn

iTunes

MP3 and Audio CD

The MP3 audio format is a common audio format.

Because of their relatively small file size, you can burn many MP3 files to a single CD.

But not all CD players and car stereos can play MP3 files.

If your device doesn't support this audio format, then you will need to convert your MP3 music to audio CD format (CDA).

How to convert and burn MP3 files to an Audio CD using Windows Media Player

Windows Media Player is a media player that comes pre-installed in Windows 7, 8, and 10.

Tip:

Use CD-R and not CD-RW, because not all CD players can play rewritable CDs properly – even when written in the correct audio format.

1.

Insert a blank CD into the CD/DVD burner drive of your PC.

2.

Open Windows Media Player.

3.

Click on the

Burn

tab located in the top right corner.

4.

Click on the

Burn options

icon and make sure that

Audio CD

is selected.

5.

Open Windows Explorer.

6.

Go to the location on your PC where the songs are stored you want to burn to a CD.

7.

Make sure that the Windows Explorer window and Windows Media Player are both visible and located next to each other.

8.

Drag the MP3 files from Windows Explorer to the burn list in Windows Media Player.

Note:

The total time cannot exceed the capacity of your CD (usually 74 or 80 minutes).

Tip:

You can view the time in minutes you have left on your CD at

_:_ free of _ mins

(e.g., 20:03 free of 80 mins) located just above the

Burn list

.

9.

You can also reorder the songs in the “Burn” list by dragging and dropping the songs into the position of your choice.

10.

When you're ready, you click on

Start burn

located above the

Burn list

and underneath the

Play

tab.

Windows Media Player will now convert your MP3 files to Audio CD format (CDA) and then burn them to your CD that can be played on any CD player or car stereo.

How to convert and burn MP3 files to an Audio CD using Ashampoo Burning Studio Free

Ashampoo Burning Studio Free

is a free program for burning and copying CDs and DVDs and other disc-related tasks.

This program's user-friendly interface, menu, and step-by-step wizard will help you achieve your disc-related tasks, easily and quickly.

You can visit the product page for more information about the program and to download the program.

Visit product page

Tip:

Use CD-R and not CD-RW, because not all CD players can play rewritable CDs properly – even when written in the correct audio format.

1.

Insert a blank CD into the CD/DVD burner drive of your PC.

2.

Open Ashampoo Burning Studio Free.

3.

In the left menu, you go to

Music

and then choose

Create Audio CD

.

4.

Click on the [+] button located in the top right corner.

An “Add Tracks” window will appear.

5.

Go to the location on your PC where the songs are stored you want to burn to a CD.

6.

Select the songs.

7.

Click on the

Add

button.

Note:

The total time of the songs cannot exceed the capacity of your audio CD (usually 74 or 80 minutes).

Tip:

You can view the time in minutes you have left on your CD at the

Duration on Audio-CD

bar located the bottom of Ashampoo Burning Studio Free.

8.

Click on the

Close

button to close the “Add Tracks” window.

9.

Click on the

Next

button located in the bottom right corner.

10.

Now you will have the following optional “write” options in the bottom left corner:

Simulate

this simulate the recording before burning (this will double the time, use for testing)

Cache data

this will copy all data to hard disk image first (slower, but can prevent write errors)

11.

In the bottom right corner, at

Speed

, you can select a burning speed. The maximum speed you can select depends on the capacity of the CD burner of your PC and the capacity of the CD.

12.

You can also select the number of copies. This option is for people who want to burn more copies of the CD.

13.

When you're ready, you click on the

Write CD >

button located in the bottom right corner.

Ashampoo Burning Studio will now convert and burn your MP3 files to an Audio CD that will play on any CD player or car stereo.

How to convert and burn MP3 files to an Audio CD using ImgBurn

ImgBurn website

Warning!

This software may offer unnecessary software during its installation. So, pay attention during the installation and decline any offers.

Tip:

Use CD-R and not CD-RW, because not all CD players can play rewritable CDs properly – even when written in the correct audio format.

1.

Insert a blank CD into the CD/DVD burner drive of your PC.

2.

Open ImgBurn.

3.

Click on

Write image file to disc

.

4.

Click on

Tools

located in the top menu and choose

Create CUE File

.

A “Create CUE File” window will appear.

5.

Click on the folder icon located in the top right corner.

A “Open” window will appear.

6.

Go to the location on your computer where the songs are stored you want to burn to a CD.

7.

Select the songs.

8.

Click on the

Open

button.

ImgBurn will analyze the files once you click on

Open

.

Note:

The total time of the songs cannot exceed the capacity of your audio CD (usually 74 or 80 minutes).

Tip:

You can view the percentage you have left on your CD at the bar located just below your songs.

9.

When you're ready, you click on the

OK

button located in the bottom right corner.

A “Save as” window will appear.

10.

At

File name

, you enter a name for your

.cue

file.

11.

Select a location on your PC where you want to save the file.

12.

Click on the

Save

button.

13.

If a “CUE File Successfully Created!” window appears, you click on the

OK

button.

You should see your .cue file in the

Source

section.

14.

If you don't see the .cue file in the

Source

section, then click on the folder icon.

A “Open” window will appear.

15.

Go to the location on your computer where the .cue file is stored that you created earlier.

16.

Select the .cue file (e.g., My Album.cue).

17.

Click on the

Open

button.

18.

In the

Destination

section, you make sure that the CD burner drive of your PC is selected.

19.

When you're ready, you click on the “file → disc” (write) button at the bottom of ImgBurn.

ImgBurn will now burn your Audio CD. This CD will play on any CD player or car stereo.

How to convert and burn MP3 files to an Audio CD using iTunes

iTunes website

Tip:

Use CD-R and not CD-RW, because not all CD players can play rewritable CDs properly – even when written in the correct audio format.

1.

Insert a blank CD into the CD/DVD burner drive of your PC.

2.

Open iTunes.

3.

Click on

File

located in the top left corner, go to

New

and click on

Playlist

.

4.

Enter a name for your new playlist.

5.

Add songs to your new playlist.

Four ways to add songs to your playlist:

Drag the songs one by one to your playlist.

Select multiple songs at once and drag them to your playlist. To select multiple songs at once, click on the first song, hold the [shift] key and click on the last song.

If you want to add songs from an album, then click on

Albums

located in the left sidebar, click on the album that contains the songs you want to burn to CD, click on the round 3 dots button located next to the title of the album, go to

Add to playlist

and choose your playlist.

Open Windows Explorer and minimize both the Windows Explorer window and the iTunes window, so that you will see both of them located next to each other, then go via Windows Explorer to the location on your computer where the songs are stored you want to burn to CD and drag the songs from Windows Explorer to your playlist in iTunes.

Note:

The total time of the songs cannot exceed the capacity of your audio CD (usually 74 or 80 minutes).

Tip:

You can view the total time (in minutes) of your playlist at the title of your playlist.

6.

When you're ready, you right-click on your playlist and choose

Burn Playlist to Disc

.

Or you click on the (...) button located at the top right of the playlist, and then click on

Burn Playlist to Disc

.

A “Burn Settings” window will appear.

7.

At

Preferred Speed

, you can choose a burning speed. The maximum speed you can select depends on the capacity of the CD burner of your PC and the capacity of the CD.

8.

At

Disc Format

, you make sure that

Audio CD

is selected.

9.

You can also select a gap (pause) between songs.

10.

Click on the

Burn

button.

iTunes will now convert your MP3 files to Audio CD format (CDA) and then burn them to your CD that can be played on any CD player or car stereo.

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