what do you "burn" with?

[pinto32]

What is the best way to copy audio CDs in OS X? I havent been able to find a way (other than copying the disc to a new folder) to do it. I have heard good things about toast, but I havent seen it for anywhere under $80.

 

[Pseudonym]

I use iTunes. Rip in and burn out. That takes time, but I use the tracks on iPod anyway.

Otherwise I do have Toast, but I tend to mainly use it for data. Could you not ctrl-click to duplicate and then burn that to cd using finder?

 

[CmdrLaForge]

To copy music I use iTunes. First rip it and the burn. I want the music iTunes any way.

For the rest I use Toast.

 

[James_C]

Toast is the way to go. However you can import music CD's into iTunes in AIFF to maintain CD quality, but many people can't tell the difference with high quality AAC encoding, anyway changing the import settings, importing and then burning is hard work compared to pressing one button in Toast. Toast is handy for making video cd's, although it is not so much on an issue these days as you can pick up blank DVD-R's cheaply (assuming you have a superdrive).

 

[jxyama]

a related question i've been curious about...

let's just say i want to just copy a music CD. can i simply dump AIFF files off the original onto a folder and then burn the songs in the folder to a CD? will the CD actually play music? (i.e. will it be a proper "audio" CD?)

i know i can rip once to iTunes. but i'm asking about a case when you don't want to import. (plus importing will encode/compress... not good if i want to make a duplicate copy. i guess i can change the ripping option to AIFF, but then i may forget to change it back...)

 

[mwpeters8182]

If you want to make a copy of a CD, i'd definitely go with Toast. You can just use the CD Copy option, and it does it for you. No worries about ripping or anything.

MP

 

[Makosuke]

Originally posted by jxyama
a related question i've been curious about...

let's just say i want to just copy a music CD. can i simply dump AIFF files off the original onto a folder and then burn the songs in the folder to a CD? will the CD actually play music? (i.e. will it be a proper "audio" CD?)

No, it will not work.

The computer has to know it's burning an audio CD, since they use a different format. iTunes and Toast both know how to do this, but the Finder does not.

As for the original question, iTunes is probably the easiest non-toast system. That said, when copying CDs when I want to preserve the format I always do this:

Use DiskCopy (Disk Utility under Panther) to make a "Device copy" of the disc. That can then be burned to a CDR using Apple tools, and it will as far as I know reproduce the original disc precisely. At least it works perfectly for Windows CDs, including boot discs and software installers (yes, they're legit backup copies I'm making), which surprised me. It should work for audio CDs as well, though I've never tried it.

 

[pinto32]

Thanks for the feedback! ..Looks like I'm gonna be getting Toasted.......

 

[virividox]

get toast with jam, if u can, jam allows you to do somethings when compiling a music cd that itunes cant

 

[MacRAND]

iTunes, Toast 6 w/Jam, Yamaha CRW-F1 CD-R 44X Maximum Audio Ripping

Originally posted by virividox
Get Toast with Jam, if you can.
Jam allows you to do somethings when compiling a music CD that iTunes can't

iTunes is free and does a good job of duping CDs

Toast 6 (& Jam) is GREAT! and highly recommended, worth the price - burns CD or DVD discs; music, data & movies.

Now, the only reason I ever duplicate a music CD (honest!) is to play the "copy" in my van's 10 disc CD player, which gets baked in the Arizona sun during the summer. Clear?

With TOAST, I can save download to HD time (DiskCopy) by using my G4's internal SuperDrive to play the Master Audio CD, and directly
toast to either a super fast Yamaha CRW-F1 CD-R FireWire burner/recorder http://www.yamahamultimedia.com/yec/products/cdrw/crwf1.asp, or
burn to my LaCie DVD/CD SuperDrive, which is a bit slower than the Yamaha because of its 4x DVD burning capability.

YAMAHA CRW-F1 CD-R 44X MAXIMUM AUDIO RIPPING
Extract tracks from your favorite audio CDs at amazing speed (up to 6 times faster than conventional CD or DVD drives). Comes with free ROXIO TOAST® 5 Lite (Mac) and ADOBE PHOTOSHOP Lite (Mac)

I especially love the Yamaha CD drive because of its plug-in for Toast called DiscT@2

DiscT@2™ LASER LABELING SYSTEM
Revolutionary technology allows burning of text and graphics onto a CD-R disc after the recording process is completed. This is the most professional way of labeling your CDs!

which will laser burn (tattoo) detailed images or text on the un-used portion of a CD surface, but it's not super easy to see unless you look real hard; otherwise, it is totally cool.