Making a mixCD from iTunes

December 11, 2005 3:23 PM

Mefiswap filter: I'm putting the finishing touches on my Mefiswap cd (Hey swapset gray!) and I've got a couple of general questions:

1. Does the CD speed of burner matter? It's a pokey 10x burner, but that shouldn't matter when listening, correct, just if someone wants to copy off the disc?

2. Really want to put the playlist on paper for my peeps. Figured out how to get the playlist from iTunes to Excel to Indesign, except for the track listing: i.e. in Excel, I have a worksheet with 130 rows, but when I export that the actual row number isn't part of the table. Is there a way to make the row number part of the table?

3. Does the kind of CD media used matter? I.E. Will burning on Sony brand cd be better than a Phillips cd? Soundquality probably won't change, but I don't want to put out a mixcd that goes bad in a year.

4. What's something good for drawing/writing on a cd? Something like a sharpie, but perhaps more colorful.

5. Been looking at past Askmefi, but can't seem to fine a definite answer: Will burning the cd from iTunes, save the playlist in order, with all the relevant track data, so that someone could pop that cd into their iTunes or other modern CD playing app and get the ordered playlist and track data?

posted by Brandon Blatcher to computers & internet (15 comments total)

1. Burn speed matters if the CD says it does - look on the packaging of your media and make sure you set your burn within the range it specifies.
2. Excel can print row and column headings, try going to Tools > Options and poking around. I'd give you exact directions, but I'm not near an Excel installation right now.
3. Doesn't matter. There are ongoing discussions about the lifetime of CD-Rs, but for this purpose, it isn't going to matter.
4. Color sharpies.
5. No. I think Toast can do this, though. What you're looking to burn is called CD-Text. Either that, or if you have sufficient remaining room on the CD, you can do a dual-mode, CD with two sessions, one for the MP3 data files, and one for the audio files. This is really nice, and much appreciated on the receiving end, since no re-encoding or re-tagging needs to be done. CD-Text alone won't accomplish that.
posted by odinsdream at 3:37 PM on December 11, 2005

1 - Slower is better. It just takes longer.
2 - For the row numbers, number item 1 and 2 in a spare column, and then highlight the whole column (or down to the bottom of the table) and hit Alt-E, I, S .
posted by pompomtom at 3:59 PM on December 11, 2005

Everything odinsdream said with the exception of #4. Sharpies will bleed through over time. Use a pen designed for writing on CDs. TDK makes them, as do others I am sure. Or, if you can get your hands on some white ink jet CDs then you can be a little more creative with permanent markers, but your basic CDs will allow the Sharpie to bleed through the disc over time. Not really a big deal for a mix tape, but you kinda asked about longevity in #3.

Have fun.
posted by terrapin at 4:03 PM on December 11, 2005

For #5, iTunes and other CD playing apps use freedb and cddb to figure out what the CD in the tray actually is. So if you submit track data for your mix to them (you should be able to do that from iTunes), then the recipients will automatically see the appropriate data when they play your CD. Now, I'm not positive whether or not that's against freedb's code of conduct, but there you have it.
posted by cmonkey at 4:05 PM on December 11, 2005

2. Don't want to print them, but have them saved with the file for import into another application. Baring THAT, is there a way to autoinsert the row number if I make a new column, just for track #'s

4. Color sharpies!!!!! Duh!

5. I'm sorry, but that was just greek to me. iTunes can't do this, but Toast can, you say?
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 4:09 PM on December 11, 2005

Oh yeah, I'm using Excel X on the Mac.
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 4:10 PM on December 11, 2005

Sharpies now come in something like 28 color packs, which is why everyone is giving the "color sharpies - duh!" answer. They go far beyond red, blue, and green, now.
posted by whatzit at 4:25 PM on December 11, 2005

Oh yeah, I'm using Excel X on the Mac.

then replace what I said about "alt-EIS" with Click Edit, Fill, Series, OK.
posted by pompomtom at 4:40 PM on December 11, 2005

I should elaborate on number 5, then, since it's really great if you have the extra space on the disc:

In Toast, go to the Help, and click on the Table of Contents link. Then look for "Making an Enhanced Audio CD" in the list that comes up. That topic explains what you should do. Here's a quick summary, though:

Go to the Data CD tab. Expand the left drawer and choose Mac & PC as your format. In the big window, drag in all the MP3 files you used in your mix. Optionally add a playlist file. Then, go to the Audio CD tab, choose Enhanced Audio CD in the Formats drawer, and add the same MP3 files to that side. Make sure "CD-TEXT" is checked on the Formats menu.

Why this is better than just making an audio CD:
1. When someone puts it in their car or home stereo, it will play like any other CD.
2. When they put it in their computer, instead of having to "import" the disc into iTunes, or rip it with some other program (thus leaving them with unnamed MP3 files), they can simply go to the disc and copy the MP3 files directly, with their filenames and tags intact. This is a good thing.
3. If their car or home stereo supports it, the name will show as its played, that's what the CD-TEXT option is for.
posted by odinsdream at 5:41 PM on December 11, 2005 [1 favorite]

Mefi CD swap? Why wasn't this announced anywhere? For some reason I was never able to log on to Dreama's site for the last swap, so I wasn't able to take part. How am I supposed to sign up for the next one if it is never announced!?

/pissed off
posted by salmacis at 3:14 AM on December 12, 2005

Salmacis,

Send me a mailing address and I'll send you copy of my cd, no strings attached.

Merry Christmas!
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 5:49 AM on December 12, 2005

salmacis-It sucks that you missed the announcements, but a little searching will show you that you were not left out of something, you just missed the (two) threads announcing the swap. Oh, and this original announcement.
posted by OmieWise at 6:03 AM on December 12, 2005

OK, I stand corrected about the announcement bit - sorry! With previous swaps I've had an email to warn me.

I'm in the UK if that has a bearing on sending a CD, but I've just participated in a swap on another forum, so I have a disk all ready to go. I'm willing to send one out to anyone who wants to do a private swap.
posted by salmacis at 8:11 AM on December 12, 2005

BTW Brandon, your email address is not in your profile. Mine, however, is, so let me know if the disclaimer above hasn't put you off.
posted by salmacis at 8:13 AM on December 12, 2005

My email address is there now. Drop me a line if you want something.

and pay attention next time! :)
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 8:55 AM on December 12, 2005