FocuSoft Tech Blog

Posted: 01 Dec 2009 04:05 PM PST

Burn music, pictures, videos, and more to CD or DVD

Burning files to CD or DVD is a great way to store and share them. But it can be a little intimidating because there are so many different types of CDs and DVDs and different ways to burn them. It’s easy to wonder: How do I just get the job done? In this column, I’ll share a few of my favorite ways to burn videos, pictures, music, and other types of files in Windows 7.

Kinds of files	Playback on	Feature I use	Disc format	Types of disc I often use
Home videos	A TV using a regular DVD player, or a computer	Windows DVD Maker	DVD‑Video	DVD‑R
Recorded TV shows	A TV using a regular DVD player, or a computer	Windows Media Center	DVD‑Video	DVD‑R
Digital pictures	A computer	Windows Explorer	Mastered	CD‑R or DVD‑R
Music (about an hour or so)	A computer or regular CD player	Windows Media Player	Audio CD	CD‑R
Music (hours of music)	A computer	Windows Media Player	Data CD or DVD	CD‑R or DVD‑R
Documents, spreadsheets, presentations, and other personal files	A computer running Windows XP, Windows Vista, or Windows 7	Windows Explorer	Live File System	CD‑RW or DVD‑RW
Disc image files (ISO files)	A computer	Windows Disc Image Burner	Data CD or DVD	CD‑R or DVD‑R

Watch home videos on your TV

I really like my friends and family, but one of the last things I want to do is sit shoulder-to-shoulder with them, crowded around a small computer screen to watch home movies. To avoid this, I usually burn my home movies to a DVD, so we can sit in the family room, spread out a bit, and watch them on TV instead.

To burn a DVD for this purpose, I use Windows DVD Maker. I just insert a blank DVD‑R disc (DVD‑R discs are compatible with most DVD players and aren’t very expensive), add a short home movie or two to the disc, and then quickly customize the DVD menu before burning the DVD. For more information about burning a DVD‑Video disc in DVD Maker, see Burn a DVD-Video disc with Windows DVD Maker.