CD cover design FREE program ?

Hello all,

Im looking for a program to use on my macbook that can easily design CD covers / Booklets which is free.
I found this one on the apple site but once downloaded tells you that it costs!

Apple - Downloads - Productivity Tools - CD and DVD Label Maker for Mac

Anyone know any free ones to download??

Thanks

If by "free" you also mean "doesn't suck," you're probably out of luck unless you already own a pro-level drawing/graphic creation program.

I used to make my own in Adobe Illustrator or Photoshop, but now I just start there for the graphics and then move it into Disc Cover from BeLight, a nice company with very reasonably-priced software.

and...

thanks, Im lousy with computers! can i download photoshop or is it already on my macbook?? If not which version do I download from here..

Adobe - Photoshop : For Macintosh


I just want to create a basic CD cover to fold in half to insert into a jewel case.

Thanks

vole69 said:

thanks, Im crap with computers! can i download photoshop or is it already on my macbook?? If not which version do I download from here..

Adobe - Photoshop : For Macintosh


I just want to create a basic CD cover to fold in half to insert into a jewel case.

Thanks

Click to expand...

Good news and bad news.

The bad news: Photoshop is an $800 program, you can't "download" it. Also, it's FAR too complex for such a simple job as this. Even the $99 "Photoshop Elements" isn't designed for this at all really.

The good news: "Well, why didn't ya say!"

If that's what you want to do, there's a free program built right into your Mac that will do that! It's called iTunes. Yep!

All you have to do is select a playlist of songs you want to burn to CD (I presume you've already done this part) and choose "Print" from the file menu, then choose your options, which range from really basic blue-cover-with-track-listing-on-back to cool "cover collage" of the albums from which the tunes in your playlist are drawn.

More about this here: Printing CD Covers and Lists in iTunes | iLounge Article

thanks, but by unsing itunes can i put my own picture on the cover??

Thanks alot again!

vole69 said:

thanks, but by unsing itunes can i put my own picture on the cover??

Thanks alot again!

Click to expand...

Sure! Just assign the picture to any one of the tunes in the playlist, select that song and then pick that graphic as the "single cover" you want to use (you can always take the graphic out after printing, and it doesn't overwrite any existing art you already have for the song -- songs can have more than one piece of artwork, though they can only display one at a time).

ok, thanks that looks good, only issue is that I want to save that on a disk in like a word doc. to take to a computer in work and print off loads of times! any better ideas??

Is there a way I can just mark out the template on some program, then add my pic and type tracks then print off?

chas_m said:

If that's what you want to do, there's a free program built right into your Mac that will do that! It's called iTunes. Yep!

All you have to do is select a playlist of songs you want to burn to CD (I presume you've already done this part) and choose "Print" from the file menu, then choose your options, which range from really basic blue-cover-with-track-listing-on-back to cool "cover collage" of the albums from which the tunes in your playlist are drawn.

More about this here: Printing CD Covers and Lists in iTunes | iLounge Article

Click to expand...

I never knew about this print option. You would not believe the hassle I've gone through to create the odd CD cover. I ought to have known that Apple had it sorted. Gee, I love my mac!

vole69 said:

ok, thanks that looks good, only issue is that I want to save that on a disk in like a word doc. to take to a computer in work and print off loads of times!

Click to expand...

At the printing stage you can always save the iTunes cover as a PDF (as you can with every Mac program).

any better ideas??

Click to expand...

I did already suggest the very nice and modestly-priced "Disc Cover" from Belight, did you check that one out?

Is there a way I can just mark out the template on some program, then add my pic and type tracks then print off?

Click to expand...

Again, I'm not aware of any free/cheap program that can do this easily. You COULD do it in Microsoft Word if you really wanted to, but it will a) be a huge PITA and b) look TERRIBLE.

This thread is definitely going into the Sunday video chat. I might even do a short demo. I've never used that iTunes feature.

Slydude said:

This thread is definitely going into the Sunday video chat. I might even do a short demo. I've never used that iTunes feature.

Click to expand...

Hey Sly - this was a 7 y/o thread until today's response - saw it earlier and thought that the thread should be closed, but just my thoughts.

NOW, if you want to discussed printing to CD-Rs/DVD-Rs (I guess now even BD-Rs), then a discussion on the discs that can be printed directly to should be discussed - for years I made 'paper CD/DVD labels' and pressed them onto discs - the edges always came up and likely would jam? When I switched to Apple computers in 2013 w/ a slot-loading SuperDrive, I decided to not use paper labels on my recordable discs (was doing both CD-R and DVD-R, the latter from the TCM channel) - SO, I bought the Canon printer below which has a special carrier for an optical disc that prints directly to the surface (of course, you need to buy the 'special' disc but pretty cheap these days) - the discs look beautiful and a nice solution - now the Canon software is really 'glunky' but I don't make many of these any more. Dave
.

Hadn't noticed the age of the thread Dave. Like you I used to print the same kind of labels though it was enough of a pain I tried to do as little of that as possible. I almost bought one of those printers that printed directly to disc but then decided I wouldn't use that feature enough to justify adding a second printer.

Sly don't print labels for slopt loaders. Bad news when heat and use causes the label to lift slightly, jam and then all sorts of troubles. Great for tray loaders on Mac Pros however. Never tried one of these CD/DVD printed directly to discs.

I'll be sure to mention that Harry. I rarely use CDs/DVDs anymore. Given the number of usb sticks I've had fail recently with little/no warning I might start using CDs again to transfer some files.

Slydude said:

Hadn't noticed the age of the thread Dave. Like you I used to print the same kind of labels though it was enough of a pain I tried to do as little of that as possible. I almost bought one of those printers that printed directly to disc but then decided I wouldn't use that feature enough to justify adding a second printer.

Click to expand...

harryb2448 said:

Sly don't print labels for slopt loaders. Bad news when heat and use causes the label to lift slightly, jam and then all sorts of troubles. Great for tray loaders on Mac Pros however. Never tried one of these CD/DVD printed directly to discs.

Click to expand...

Guys - I used 'paper labels' for years when I was on PCs - these were either for DVD-Rs (burned from the TCM channel, i.e. old movies) or CD-Rs (typically ripped CDs I owned or MP3 albums that I purchased and wanted on a disc) - never a problem because all of my players were 'tray-loaders'.

However, making paper labels and then applying them to the discs was a pain, so when I switched to Apple computers, I also bought several new printers, including a Canon inkjet which had the 'print directly to disc' feature - an example below of a Vivaldi MP3 album that I purchased from Amazon - the colors are beautiful, the print extremely sharp, and almost looks etched into the 'special surface' of the disc (actual disc looks better than my pic). A thought for those who indeed need a type of label on a homemade disc and particularly if using a slot-loader. Dave
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