Mac Issue Burning Files ???

Hi

I recently tried burning some audio files on my Mac in audio disc format to a CD-RW 700MB. The burn size for all files only came to 163.8 MB, but when trying to burn, a popup confirms not enough space on disc, which doesn't make any sense.

What could be the issue ?

The mp3 files you are trying to burn take up 163.8 MB.

A standard audio disk uses uncompressed AIFF files, so there a limit on the amount of tracks an audio CD can hold.

When burning an Audio CD, the compressed audio is converted to AIFF, where each track will take up roughly 40+ meg.

Some CD players support MP3 disks, if that is the case you could burn an MP3 audio disk and fit a lot more tracks on

I guess the question is "how are you trying to burn them"? If you are just buring MP3's over (assumption) that total 164Mb then it should not be a problem. However, if youa re using iTunes to do it there is a possibility that the files are being converted to a different format, as mentioned above, which is why you are getting the error.

musicmad said:

Hi

I recently tried burning some audio files on my Mac in audio disc format to a CD-RW 700MB. The burn size for all files only came to 163.8 MB, but when trying to burn, a popup confirms not enough space on disc, which doesn't make any sense.

What could be the issue ?

Click to expand...

It's because the files are probably being burned as audio and as such will be too large to fit. I've done the same thing myself by mistake. You need to make sure they burn as MP3. MP3 files are compressed.

When going to burn files to disc there are 2 options, 1 to burn all items to disc using the drop down menu in file, or burn vie iTunes in either Audio MP3 or DATA format.

When choosing the 1st option, what format are the files converted to ?

An Audio CD is an actual format; it does not accept files in anything other than AIFF. So any files that are not AIFF are converted to AIFF on-the-fly when you are making an Audio CD.

If you are making a Data CD or an MP3 (ISO) disc, then no conversion should be happening at all.

In iTunes, when you select songs you can visually see at the bottom of the screen how many minutes those songs will take up. This is *exactly* why when you buy blank CDs they list "80 minutes" as well as 700MB. It's telling you how many minutes' worth of other formats you can get onto the disc when burning as an Audio CD.

So, if you want to burn an Audio CD, make a playlist that does not exceed 80 minutes, and it will burn successfully every time in iTunes and play on pretty much any sort of CD-playing device out there (MP3 discs and data CDs only "play" on either computers or equipment that is specially branded as being able to play those formats).

Another alternative: buy an iPod.