3. CD/DVD Burning

Abstract

In this section we concentrate on using K3b to perform common CD burning operations. DVD recording is very similar to its CD counterpart.

[Note] Note

Copyrighted Material. Please note that data, audio, video CD or DVD copying is often forbidden by copyright law. We assume that if you want to duplicate copyrighted material, it's because you have the right to do so.

3.1. Getting Started

Choose System+Archiving+CD burningK3b from the main menu to start K3b. Figure 4.6, “K3b's Interface” shows K3b's interface with a new data project open.

Figure 4.6. K3b's Interface

K3b's Interface

Toolbar. Where buttons to perform common actions lie. See Table 4.1, “K3b's Toolbar Buttons”.

File Manager. To choose which files to include in the burned CD. Use the left-side tree to navigate the file system and drag and drop the files you want to include in the project into the Project Manager.

Project Manager. Where all files which will be on the burned CD are shown and handled. Files can be removed and their location (directory) on the CD can be changed here.

The following table shows the most important buttons available in K3b's toolbar, their equivalent keyboard shortcuts and a brief explanation of the functions they provide.

[Note] Note

Not all buttons are enabled at all times. For example, the Save button is not enabled if there is no active project.

Table 4.1. K3b's Toolbar Buttons

Button Keyboard Shortcut Function
 

Create a New Project. When you click on this button a list of available project types is shown:

New Data CD Project creates a data CD; (see Section 3.2, “Burning Data CDs”); New Data DVD Project creates a data DVD; New Audio CD Project create an audio CD; (see Section 3.3, “Burning Audio CDs (CDDA)”); New Mixed Mode CD Project creates a mixed mode (data+audio) CD; New Video CD Project creates a digital compressed video CD; New Video DVD Project creates a video DVD; that is a video DVD that can be played on any DVD player; New eMovix CD Project creates an eMovix CD; New eMovix DVD Project creates an eMovix DVD.

Ctrl-O

Open an Existing Project. A standard file dialog opens from where you can choose the project you wish to open. Select the project you are interested in and click the Open button.

Ctrl-S

Save the Current Project. A standard file dialog opens where you can enter the name under which the current project will be saved. Type the name of the project and click the Save button.

 

Copy a CD. To make an exact copy of a CD. It opens a window which asks for the copy settings. Refer to Section 3.5, “Duplicating a CD”, for more information. Please note that you cannot duplicate copyrighted DVD movies with this function, as they are encrypted.

 

Erase a CD-RW. To erase re-writable CD medium. It opens a window which asks for the erase operation settings. Please refer to Section 3.6, “Erasing CD-RW media”, for more information.

 

Format a DVD-RW. To format a re-writable DVD medium. It opens a window which asks for the formatting settings.


3.2. Burning Data CDs

3.2.1. Burning a Set of Files or Directories

Choose File+New ProjectNew Data CD Project from K3b's menu . Then drop into the Project Manager the files and directories you want to include on the CD (see Figure 4.7, “Selecting Files and Directories to Include on a CD”).

Figure 4.7. Selecting Files and Directories to Include on a CD

Selecting Files and Directories to Include on a CD

[Note] Note

Adding directories containing lots of files can take some time. Please be patient and wait until the Adding files to Project PROJECT_NAME message disappears.

The space occupied by the selected files and directories is shown by a color-coded bar at the bottom of the Project Manager, together with the volume expressed in MB and the available MB of the mediums total capacity. The bar's color codes are as follows:

Green

The size of the set is less than that of the selected mediums capacity (700 MB by default). There are no capacity-related problems.

Yellow

The size of the set is nearly equal the selected mediums capacity. If it's a few MB below the mediums capacity, there won't be any capacity-related problems; if it's a few MB above the mediums capacity, the CD might be written without problems, but there's little guarantee of success.

Red

The size of the set exceeds the medium's capacity by many MB. The CD won't be burnt properly.

Right-clicking on any file or directory in the Project Manager pops up a contextual menu with options to remove and rename files, create new (empty) directories, etc. Files and directories can be relocated (change the directory under which you want them to appear) on the CD using drag-and-drop.

[Tip] Tip

Renaming the top element of the left side tree in the Project Manager changes the CD's volume name (K3b data project by default for data CDs).

Choosing the ProjectBurn menu entry displays a window where you can select writing parameters (see Figure 4.8, “Setting Writing Parameters”). Insert a recordable medium in the CD burner and click the Burn button to start writing the CD.

Figure 4.8. Setting Writing Parameters

Setting Writing Parameters

3.2.2. Burning an ISO Image

Let's assume you have downloaded a CD-ROM image from the Internet and you want to burn it on a CD. Choose ToolsBurn CD Image from K3b's menu. Click the “open file” button to browse for the CD image file and select the file in the standard open file dialog. The CD image is then verified and information about it is displayed (see Figure 4.9, “Burn CD Image Options”).

Figure 4.9. Burn CD Image Options

Burn CD Image Options

Once the image is verified, you can insert the recordable medium and click Start to write it to the disc.

[Tip] Tip

The Speed pull-down list should be set to Auto to make K3b select the fastest possible recording speed supported by the combination of your CD burner and the currently inserted recordable medium. The “slowest” speed of the two determines the recording speed.

3.3. Burning Audio CDs (CDDA)

By audio CDs, we mean the ones you play in your car or home stereo equipment, not data CDs containing OGG, MP3 or any other digital audio format files.

K3b supports recording audio CDs from tracks digitized in Wave (*.wav), Ogg Vorbis (*.ogg), and MP3 (*.mp3) formats. You can mix digital audio formats since K3b decompresses the compressed ones on-the-fly. K3b can also create digital audio tracks from audio CDs, also known as “ripping” (see Section 3.4, “Audio CD Extraction (Ripping)”).

Choose File+New ProjectNew Audio CD Project from K3b's menu. Select K3b's File Manager's filter to Sound Files, navigate to where the digitized audio files are and then drag the audio tracks and drop them in the Project Manager (see Figure 4.10, “Selecting Audio Tracks to Include on the CD”).

Figure 4.10. Selecting Audio Tracks to Include on the CD

Selecting Audio Tracks to Include on the CD

Use drag and drop to move the files up and down the compilation. Once you have the tracks compiled in the order you want in the Project Manager, you can write them to CD.

3.4. Audio CD Extraction (Ripping)

Insert the audio CD to rip tracks from and double click on the drive in the left side of the File Manager. The CD is read and, by default, all tracks are marked to be ripped. To remove the check mark from those you don't want to rip, right-click on them and deselect them.

[Note] Note

Make sure that enough temporary space is available. You can check the available space in K3b's status bar. Bear in mind that each minute of CD-quality digitized uncompressed audio takes a bit more than 10MB of disk space.

  Click this button to review the different ripping options (see Figure 4.11, “CD Ripping Options”), especially the file naming ones and once you're satisfied with your settings click the Start Ripping button.

Figure 4.11. CD Ripping Options

CD Ripping Options

3.5. Duplicating a CD

Figure 4.12. Setting Options to Copy a CD

Setting Options to Copy a CD

Choose ToolsCopy CD from the menu. Select the number of copies (1 in the example), whether to remove the temporary image or not (yes), the reader and burning devices (automatically set) and click on Start. The “sourceCD is then read, an image of it is made and the “targetCD is written.

3.6. Erasing CD-RW media

Figure 4.13. Setting CD-RW Blanking Options

Setting CD-RW Blanking Options

You might want to format your CD-RW media in order to write it with different data. To do so, choose ToolsErase CD-RW from the menu (see Figure 4.13, “Setting CD-RW Blanking Options”). The Erase Type can be set to Fast (the CD-RW is quickly erased in up to 3 minutes); Complete (the CD-RW is completely erased taking up to 90 minutes); and a few options related to multi-session recording are also available. Insert the medium in the CD burner and click the Start button to erase the CD-RW.