Burning CDs on an iMac

What type of blank CDs are recognized by the iMac and what is the best method for burning CDs from iTunes libraries? Thank you.

iMac Superdrives are known to be finicky about the quality of media - mine only likes Verbatim or Imation. I'd suggest you buy a small quantity and try it; if they work well, then buy a spindle of them.
As for the best method: you need to create a playlist in iTunes and then you can burn it. That is if you are talking about music. Videos are an entirely different matter - you will need an authoring burning software for that.

Similar Messages

  • Error Code when trying to burn cds

    Hi
    i have tried to burn cds using my iMac but for the last while i have been getting the same error , "burning of the disc failed because communication to the disc drive failed. Error code 0x80020022"
    this error appears if i try to burn music cds or data cds ( documents/photos etc. ) . i searched through all the forums but i can't find a solution. i have tried using disk utility to repair permissions etc. but it says there all fine. i have tried changing cd brands but it doesn't make a difference. i can't use the hardware test on my installation cd because it just spins in the cd and then spits the cd out and just starts as normal yet when i put in a cd it reads it and asks if i want to import it into iTunes. i downloaded Onyx and let it do its thing but that didn't fix it. i also went looking but i can't find a firmware update for the cd drive on my mac. the cd drive in my mac is a "MATSHITA CD-RW CW-8124" . I was wondering if this was a common problem and how do i go about fixing it. one person told me that the cd burner would probably need to be replaced in order to fix this problem is that correct and is that costly . i'm at a loss to what else i can try so i would be very thankful for any help or information you could give to help me get this back working again. Thanks a million
    Paul

    Hi there,
    I am writing here as an "end-user" and not as a professional computer advisor, and because I've had some problems alike with my older iMac. I've written about my case in here:http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=1832474&tstart=0
    I would also like to know if there are some procedures to do in OS X (I have 10.3.9) regularly to make sure that the internal cd-rw-drive burns without "having it's own opinion" and giving all kind's of stuped error-signals or even throwing-out the cd-rw's when ordered to burn them.
    I haven't figured out if there is a straight way to do this in OS X with the original Apple-applications. However, I've found a 3rd party freeware application called Burn X Free (1.5 (v1.5)) which at the moment seems to work and do the job of burning cd-rw's. Earlier I was able to burn them in Finder, after going from OS X 10.2.8 to 10.3.9 I begun to have burnig-problems, but might be that the origin of the problems is not the X 10.3.9. Anyway, with my user short experience of Burn X Free (1.5 (v1.5))-application I can recommend it if nothing else after all maintenance procedures works...
    However, I would like to know how you solved the problem after all.

  • I bought a used PowerMacPC G5. I can burn and read DVDs, but I can't read or burn CDs. The CDs are not even recognized. After the drive searches for a while, the CD is ejected without any error messages. The CDs work okay on my iMac.

    I bought a used PowerMacPC G5. I can burn and read DVDs, but I can't read or burn CDs. The CDs are not even recognized. After the drive searches for a while, the CD is ejected without any error messages. The CDs work okay on my iMac.
    I am running Mac OSX 10.4.11. According to the System profiler the CD/DVD drive is a "PioneerDVD-RWDVR-112D." When I compare the information under this heading, the only unusual difference from my iMac is that the G5 reads "Burn Support: Yes (Unsupported)." My iMac reads "Burn Support: Yes (Apple Shipping Drive)."
    Under the System Preferences the options are set to "Ask what to do" when a blank CD or DVD is inserted. Music CD set to open iTunes, Picture CD set to open iPhoto, Video DVD set to open DVD player.
    Do you have any suggestions?
    Thanks, Jack

    Hi Jack, great help so far!
    Internal...
    http://eshop.macsales.com/static_pages/Framework.cfm?page=superdrive/sdl_powerma c_g5.html
    External be sure it's Firewire & not Bus powered...
    http://eshop.macsales.com/shop/firewire/optical-drives/

  • Burned CDs no longer play on imac G5 - commercial CDs play okay

    My imac G5 is no longer recognizing any previously burned CDs. When I inset the CD I get "You've inserted a blank CD. Turn burn items on the CD....." etc. The CDs play okay in my CD player, just not on the imac.
    The imac still recognizes and plays commercial CDs and CD ROMS.
    I updated to iTunes+ two days ago. Since then I have been getting occasional "You're attempt to burn a disc failed. The device failed to calibrate the laser power level for this media." I have burned several CDs that also play on my CD player but will not play on the imac once the disc is injected and reinserted into the imac.
    I have run the utilities disc and done repair file permissions. I have run the repair utility and get a "No problems found" result. I have also run a memorex cd cleaner disc.
    I would suspect a hardware problem except it is only the discs I have burned that I get the "blank cd" notification.
    Anyone have any ideas or suggestions? This is driving me nuts!!!!
    Thanks for any suggestions.
    Phil

    iMacs are notoriously picky about CDs and DVDs. I suggest you post to the iTunes forum, they are more likely to have experience with this sort of problem: http://discussions.apple.com/forum.jspa?forumID=789
    although I looked through the old posts there and couldn't find an exact duplicate of your problem.
    If you find a solution, please let us know,
    Miriam

  • Everytime I insert a blank CD into my iMac, it spits it out. How can I fix this so I can burn CDs?

    Everytime I insert a blank CD into my iMac, it spits it out. How can I fix this so I can burn CDs?

    Try using a LensCleaner Disk first off. If that won't even run try a
    SMC RESET
    http://support.apple.com/kb/HT3964
    Shut down the computer.
    Unplug the computer's power cord and ALL peripherals.
    Wait 15 seconds.
    Attach the computers power cable.
    Wait another 5 seconds and press the power button to turn on the computer.
    The 5 second timing is important to a successful reset.
    Then use the Lens Cleaner again. Make sure your disks are immaculately clean.

  • Writing Disc Error: why won't my iMac burn CDs

    I have a early 2010 iMac intel running on OS X Mountain Lion and as of late I have not been able to burn cds from my iTunes. I continuoosly get an error message: "Burn failed becuase of medium write error", I have tried different brands of CD-R's all with the same result. I have slowed the burn speed to below 8x and that worked only for a little while whereas I eventually got down to 1x and now I cant burn anything. In addition, I have noticed when I put a cd into my computer, the drive sounds like a rocket ship prepairing to take off. Is this a problem for anyone else? Will I have to replace my disk drive?

    Yes it is the Drive itself. It is failing and needs to be replaced or you need to buy an External DVD burner that connects to a USB port. Any make and model will work. It does not have to branded and sold by Apple for it to work on your iMac.
    Celtikonducta wrote:
    I have tried that , and the results are the same. Is it the drive itself?

  • IMac won't burn cds...Problem with Tiger?

    I used to have Panther and I would occasionally get error messages when trying to burn cds, mostly the buffer has been underrun. I upgraded to tiger and the problem worsened and I began getting other error message. Mostly "the device failed to calibrate the laser power needed for this media" sometimes it just spits out the cd without an error message. I have a warrantly with Fry's. They have had my computer for over 3 months and keep claming that there is no problem with my comptuer, even though they have seen the error (what idiots!) ..
    Their recent claim is that it is a software issue, and that the superdrive in the imac is not compatible with tiger, and I need to downgrade to my original OS. I find this very hard to believe. WHy would apple come out with an OS that is not compatible with the superdrive??
    Keep in mind, everybody at Fry's seems to no NOTHING about Macs...This is the last time I buy an Apple from there!!
    Does anybody know anything about this issue??

    i have almost the same problem, i have an imac G5, i jus purchased it last october, i use it to burn stuff all the time and nothing happens, until like a couple of dayz ago.. i tried to burn a cd and it ddnt work, i uninstalled toast and installed it again, restarted my computer but it still ddnt work.. but when i burnt a DVD it worked, but it cant burn cds. i have no idea why this is happening. it has never happened before...helllllllpppppppppppppppppp please because i really need to use it.....

  • Cannot burn CDs on iMac G5

    I see a lot of people have been having various problems with burning CDs and DVDs on the iMac G5. I have had a similar problem.
    I could not burn any CDs, but I could burn DVDs. This affected iTunes, Standard folder burns and Toast. But I could burn DVDs! I tried different manufacturers CDs but this made no difference. In iTunes I got the error about "unable to calibrate laser", in other applications I got an error code.
    I fixed this by modifying the CD/DVD System Preferences to Open Finder when a new CD or DVD is inserted. It was originally set to open Toast.

    I'll try and be as concise as possible, but I want you to know that I've tried a few things and asked a bunch of people and still no definitive solution.
    I copied an uncopywritten DVD-R on my iMac G5 using disc utility and the method described in an Apple article. I used a nextech 8x 4.6GB DVD-R. The copy DVD-R plays fine on the DVD player in my computer, but not on my JVC
    HR-XVC2OU(R) home DVD player, which does play the original DVD-R. I took the copy DVD-R to a store, and it played on a Pioneer DVD player. I made a copy on a Maxell DVD-R, but had the same result. The recorder in my computer seems to be Pioneer DVD-RW DVD-K04F. Apple Chat folks said the disk utility would reproduce the DVD in the same format it was originally which, according to the JVC people, is compatible with their unit. If there's not an easy solution, I'll settle for a definitive one. If you've reached this point, thank you. I'm at the end of my rope.
    iMac G5   Mac OS X (10.3.9)  
    iMac G5   Mac OS X (10.3.9)  
    iMac G5   Mac OS X (10.3.9)  

  • I want to burn music cds on my iMac that I can use on other cd players not just on a pc or mac how do I do this?

    I want to burn music cds on my iMac that I can use on other cd players not just on a pc or mac how do I do this?

    Hi, neighbour!
    Create your playlist in iTunes, making sure it will fit on a CD (time and size of playlist shown at bottom of window).
    I think as you're in Lion, it'll be iTunes 10? If so I believe the burn option is now in one of the menus - probably 'file', but it shouldn't take much finding).
    Selecting Burn should give you a dialogue some thing like this;
    (This is iTunes 9, so it may not be exactly the same).
    Choose Audio CD and set the gap if reqd.
    Click burn, then insert the CD when prompted in the top of the iTunes window.

  • Problems reading/burning cds

    dvds and program cds are working, but itunes is not reading certain burned cds, and i am having trouble burning cds.
    today i tried to burn a playlist, 17 songs, 1.1 hrs, 72.7 mb on a 80min/700mb cd. it failed almost immediately and gave the message, "the attempt to burn a disk failed. the device failed to calibrate the lazer power level for this media."
    a previous attempt to burn a cd gave me a message saying something about an unused underwrite buffer or something, i should have written that message down too. any ideas?

    Welcome to Apple Discussions
    You possibly are using CD's incompatible with your CD writer. What speed are the CD's? I use Maxell 48x with my iMac with no problems, however, I find my iBook likes the 32x. Different writers. The iMac is a SuperDrive, while the iBook is the standard CD/DVD.

  • Burn cds

    When i burn cds, they wont play on any other device?  what am i doing wrong?

    Have no clue!
    What type of CDs are you using? 
    What are you burning? 
    How are you burning?  What software and/or app are you using? 
    Can you play them on your computer? 
    =================== 
    It would help us to know which iMac model you have, which OS & version you're using, how much RAM, etc. You can have this info displayed on the bottom of every post by completing your system profile and filling in the information asked for.        This will help in providing you with the proper and/or correct solutions. 

  • Trouble playing back burned cds created from itunes

    I'm going crazy trying to figure this out so any help would be MUCH APPRECIATED!! I've imported several cd into itunes and burned them onto a CD-R. The tracks show up and the cd will play on my computer but, will not play on my stereo system. The tracks are aif files and I've made sure I've selected Audio cd in prefrences. I've burned many cds with my old Mac and they played fine on my stereo, car, etc. but, since buying my new G5, I haven't been able to listen to a burned cd from this system? Any solutions? Thanks in advance for any help.

    Hey, I've had my iMac Intel Duo for a week now and previously used iTunes on my PC. My car stereo has always had problems playing my CD-R burned cds from iTunes (both PC & now iMac). I drive a 2001 Audi A4T with it's original cd/radio. My husband and son however have ALWAYS been able to play any of the cds I burned from iTunes successfully. Currently running iTunes V 6.0.4.3 and it was just today that I was successful burning a playlist that my car stereo could read. I just kept trying all different brands of cds until one finally clicked; and in this case was an imation CD-R 700MB/80MIN. Good Luck. (I truly don't believe it's the burner......)
    iMac Intel Duo   Mac OS X (10.4.6)  

  • Got a MacBook with 10.5.8  I am anable to burn cds, dvds, and dl dvds.  Everything worked before I reformatted my computer but now it comes up with error messages like unable to communicate or something about the laser power levels.  Help! Anyway to check

    Got a MacBook with 10.5.8  I am anable to burn cds, dvds, and dl dvds.  Everything worked before I reformatted my computer but now it comes up with error messages like unable to communicate or something about the laser power levels.  Help! Anyway to check to see what is going on?

    Hi I am having the identical problem with my 24" intel iMac 2007..... Did you ever figure out what the problem was? I'm on round 3 now and with a completely blank grey screen and it won't start up from the disk 1.. I also have diskwarrior and techtool pro as well as the osx leopard and snow leopard disk... The HD is new.. Replaced by apple 3 months ago.. Don't know the cause the first time this happened about 9 months ago.. 2nd time, 6 months ago it never rebooted from the office for mac 2008 critical update... Did a clean install after backing up to TC... Took it to apple replaced HD even though it appeared ok, they checked all hardware and I ran techtool pro daily ever since. Last week software update had several updates avail. Office for mac being one of them.. I updated and have never booted since.. . I swear to never ever use another Microsoft product as long as I live if I can just fix this once more... Help me please

  • Burned cds

    I purchased a new IMac.  Stared loading all my phones and music in blank account.  All purchased music loaded bout my burned cds CDs did not.  I can't seem to be able to get them in.  They are on my iPad and the synk won't take them?   Any tricks for this?

    In some CD copiers you can put the artist and title of the song in...can I do this with Itunes?
    Yes iTunes let you tag the song file with artist, album, etc.
    In many of the new Vehicles have a display where the title and artist comes up.
    Yes, some auto CD players do display that info.

  • OS Lion reading old burned CDs as Blank

    I am going through some burned CDs and attempting to copy them to my new iMac, but each one is being read as a Blank CD. Regular factory audio CDs seem to work fine. Any type of home burned CD is being read as blank. Any insight on how to fix this would be appreciated, thanks.

    How old are these CDs?  Burned CDs can go 'bad", especially if done onto inexpensive media.  I wouldn't expect that kind of failure rate though.  Still, if the drive reads regular media it isn't the drive as such.  I guess it could be the drive doesn't like your older CDs (it isn't a case of software), but usually it happened that old drives could not read  burned CDs and not new drives not being able to read older burned CDs.
    Are these audio CDs and do they play on another audio player?
    http://www.unsungcomposers.com/forum/index.php?topic=2640.0

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