The CD Burner

Years ago, owning a copy of your favorite singer or band meant going to a retail store or buying from an online website. With the average song count, you would spend at least $10. If you were one of those who couldn't afford to buy a CD, you would probably have to wait for the local radio station to play the songs you liked.

These days however, several music download shareware programs make it possible to get your favorite songs directly from other uses without having to go out and buy them. These programs will store the songs you download to your hard drive, or transfer it to your MP3 player if you prefer.

If you prefer to keep a complete collection of the songs by storing them to a disc, you'll need one piece of equipment for your computer -- a CD burner.

The CD burner comes in two forms: internal and external.

External CD burners don't need to be attached to your CPU, and they can be connected to your computer through a USB port with its own power source. An internal CD burner is the one that attaches to your CPU and fits on the inside of your computer tower.

The CD burner is a great piece of equipment to have, as it can copy from one CD to another or even from a hard drive to a blank CD, and vice-versa.

To use your CD player, you'll need software. You can find some types of this software available to download for free on the internet. Some great examples include ISO Recorder, Deep Burner, Apple QuickTime Player and Windows Media Player.

If you prefer, you can also purchase quality programs as well. Some examples of these include Roxio Toast, and Sonic Record Now. The programs that are free have the same burning capacity, although those that cost money will give you more features and overall flexibility.

Keep in mind that CD burners aren't limited to only copying audio. You can also use it to copy document files, programs, games, videos, MP3, and many other types of files.

The burners with DVD burning capabilities will enable you to copy your favorite DVD to another CD in case you want to share it with a friend or back it up. You can also burn a movie to DVD if you downloaded it off the internet, then watch it on your television or computer.