CD burning software for Mac OSX?

[dscan99]

I was battling burning a CD-RW photo CD yday and ultimately gave up the CD-RW approach and burnt a CD-R with select pictures. I was using iPhoto and I really had a terible time getting it to work. Is there a better software (free preferably) that is useful to burn data CD-Rs and CD-RWs?

On a side note, is there a way to preview pictures as thumbnails in Finder? i.e not seeing the generic JPG icon for a picture file but the actual picture itself?

iTunes works very well for audio CDs.

Thanks in advance...

 

[cluthz]

Toast is good, but not free.

 

[johnnyjibbs]

I was battling burning a CD-RW photo CD yday and ultimately gave up the CD-RW approach and burnt a CD-R with select pictures. I was using iPhoto and I really had a terible time getting it to work. Is there a better software (free preferably) that is useful to burn data CD-Rs and CD-RWs?

On a side note, is there a way to preview pictures as thumbnails in Finder? i.e not seeing the generic JPG icon for a picture file but the actual picture itself?

iTunes works very well for audio CDs.

Thanks in advance...

I have no problems with CD burning in iLife and Mac OS X. If you're looking for a program that does all your burning needs though, try Roxio Toast.

To preview pictures as thumbnails in the Finder, turn on Columns mode and you can preview each picture. Or you can go to View -> Show View Options (Apple+J) and tick the "show icon preview" checkbox. If you have the "All windows" radio button selected, this will change all JPEGs in the Finder to little previews. Then you can ramp up the size of the icons to 128x128 (or at least in your Pictures folder) so that you can see them at a glance.

Mac OS X has no anology to Windows XP's filmstrip icon view mode though. I guess you don't like iPhoto, right?

 

[munkle]

Yeah iPhoto isn't great for burning photo CD's, as it insists on having the complicated iPhoto hierarchy. Your best solution is to export the photos from iPhoto onto your desktop and then burn those photos through Finder. No need for any additional software.

 

[dscan99]

Yeah iPhoto isn't great for burning photo CD's, as it insists on having the complicated iPhoto hierarchy. Your best solution is to export the photos from iPhoto onto your desktop and then burn those photos through Finder. No need for any additional software.

Hmm.. I see. Couple questions-

1. Does burning a CD-RW work through Finder? Anything "special" I need to do?

2. I tried dragging and dropping a picture from iPhoto onto the desktop but it kept giving me a stupid error.. about not finding a file or something!!????? Is this not reasonable to want to do????

 

[munkle]

Hmm.. I see. Couple questions-

1. Does burning a CD-RW work through Finder? Anything "special" I need to do?

2. I tried dragging and dropping a picture from iPhoto onto the desktop but it kept giving me a stupid error.. about not finding a file or something!!????? Is this not reasonable to want to do????

1. Yes. To erase the disk use Disk Utility (located applications/utilities).

2. You should be able to do that without any problems at all. The only reason I recommended exporting was to avoid any duplicate file name situations. Hmmm, I would try re-importing the photo into iPhoto again - like I said, you shouldn't have any problems dragging the photo directly onto the desktop.

 

[iGary]

I used to burn everything in the finder, but find Toast much more stable (less corrupt copies) and quicker.

Just my .02

 

[dscan99]

1. Yes. To erase the disk use Disk Utility (located applications/utilities).
.

Will that not get rid of existing files on the CD?

 

[munkle]

Will that not get rid of existing files on the CD?

Yes but that's how CD-RW's work. You can't keep just burning data onto them like you would with a floppy, if you want to burn more data onto them you have to erase first and then start again.

There is software available I think, which might allow you to use your CD-RW discs more like floppy discs but it's best to think of CD's as an archival tool.