creating an audio cd in 2025
Oh yes, we're going here. I've been going all-in with learning how to do things with optical media lately, so I went ahead and acquired some CD-R discs.
You might be asking why I would even bother with this. I'll answer that.
This is not so much for the '90s nostalgia factor (although I will admit that's a small part of it), but rather because CD is just so darned reliable. And there's another reason I'll mention in a bit.
Before getting into the audio stuff, some quick notes on data stuff first.
Out of all computer media there is, only two will last the test of time. CD-R and ultrium tape cartridges. The tape itself is really expensive, and an ultrium tape drive will instantly give you massive sticker shock.
CD-R, even at just 700MB/disc, is the best thing you could use to store important documents and photos for about 10 years if not longer. An external USB optical drive is cheap as are CD-R discs. When all the hard drives and USB flash sticks fail, CD-R will still be working.
And don't worry, there will still be optical drives in the future. There are super nerds right now successfully recovering data from storage media of the late 1970s. If they can recover data from a half-century ago, you'll still be able to read your CD-R data in 2035.
Okay, on to the audio stuff.
In Windows, the best tool is Windows Media Player in Windows 10, and that's pretty much all you need to know there. Fairly easy to figure out.
In Linux, three things are required. FFMPEG to encode proper WAV files for CD audio, Brasero to burn and/or make BIN/CUE files, and VLC for playback to test out the disc once burned.
If you don't have FFMPEG, Brasero and VLC installed, install those first.
Get all your audio ready. It doesn't matter if it's video or audio files. Could be WEBM, MP4, MOV, OGG, MP3, whatever. Just dump everything you want to burn to disc in a folder.
Navigate to that folder in Terminal and run this:
mkdir for-cd;for i in *;do ffmpeg -i "$i" -ar 44100 "${i%.*}.wav" -y;mv *.wav for-cd -v;done
This will a) create subfolder for-cd, b) make WAV versions of all the files at a proper 44.1kHz, c) move all the WAV versions to subfolder for-cd.
Launch Brasero and start an "Audio Project", which is for a traditional audio CD.
Drag-and-drop all the WAV files in the for-cd subfolder into the Brasero window.
Do two things to each track.
Right-click the track to add the song title and band/artist name.
After that, right-click the track again and select "Insert a Pause".
Doing this will insert a 2-second pause between that track and the next one.
Add title/artist info for every track, then add a 2-second pause for every track except the last one since that's the end of the disc.
At the bottom of Brasero, your disc title is there. Change it to whatever you want, such as "My Custom Mix Disc".
There is a drop-down at the bottom of Brasero. You can either burn direct-to-disc right then and there, or you can burn an image file. The latter option makes a BIN and CUE.
If you are the type that prefers to directly edit the CUE file with a text editor before burning a disc, yes, you can do that. I specifically mention this for those that still prefer to use the command line utility cdrdao (which literally means CD-R Disc-At-Once). Some Linux users really like that utility but hate the process of making the BIN and CUE files. Well, just have Brasero make the BIN and CUE, edit the CUE to suit, then burn the disc with cdrdao afterward. Job done.
Or, if you don't want to deal with any of that, just have Brasero burn the disc.
Once the disc is burned, that's when you launch VLC to test it out. Insert the burned disc in the drive, launch VLC, and at top left click Media > Open Disc. A new smaller window will appear. Click Audio CD, then the Play button at bottom.
If all went well, your audio CD will start playing and you'll see all the CD Text stuff you input in Brasero for each track.
So what was that other reason for using CD-R I was talking about?
The other reason CD audio is being sought after again is because of cars and annoyances with smartphones.
Want to know how many cars were made with CD audio players? Millions. How do I know? Years ago, I owned a nearly-base spec 1986 Chevrolet Camaro, and it had a factory installed General Motors radio with CD player. It was just single-disc, but the point is it had one even on a 1986 model when CD was still a very new thing.
Cars with CD players were around for about 35 years. In fact, it wouldn't surprise me if a few 2025 models still offered it.
The smartphone annoyances I'm talking about where music playback is concerned is that it's not as simple as 1) pick song, 2) play, 3) adjust volume. An app has to be launched, maybe a login is required if it's a streaming thing, and so on.
With CD, it literally is a 1-2-3 process. Pick song, play, adjust volume. And pretty much all car CD players have a shuffle feature, so the songs don't have to be played in order.
How many songs can fit on an audio CD? 80 minutes of music. If each song is 3 minutes in length, that means 26 songs can fit on the disc. If you want to get really technical about it, the maximum number of audio tracks that can be written to CD is 99. You could burn 99 "songs" to CD if they were all 0.8 seconds in length each.
Before you ask, yes, Brasero will show how much you can fit on the disc before you burn it, so you don't have to guess.
Given the fact the majority of car owners drive a car over 10 years old, it most likely has a CD player. It's right there, ready to be used. Nothing to plug in, no fumbling about with wires or connectors or anything like that. Insert a disc and start the music.
CD players in cars are easy. Easy is good. You just have to make the discs.
Published 2025 Feb 27