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>> In between CDs and MP3s, there's an awkward half-breed called the MP3 CD. It's a recordable CD filled with MP3 data and playable only on special MP3 CD players. Technology allows you to store several hours worth of music on a single CD. But the format never really took off in the portable market. Car stereos, on the other hand, can't get enough of the MP3 CD. In fact, if your car stereo was made in the past two the three years and has the ability to play regular CDs, there's a good chance it can play MP3 CDs. There's also a fair amount of DVD players that will play them, too. The quickest way to check is to just make an MP3 CD using your computer and a blank CDR. There's a couple ways to do this. First, make sure you've got a computer with a CD drive that can both read and burn CDs. Most modern computers have this ability, but if you're running a clunker, you may need to upgrade your drive. Now, it's possible to make an MP3 CD directly just by dragging and dropping a collection of MP3 files onto a blank CDR and burning it as a date CD. This is the way to go if you want a CD to contain nested folders of artists and albums that you can navigate like an MP3 player using the controls on the device you're using to play the CD. The problem with this method is that not all MP3 CD player support nested folders, and it can be painstaking to go through your collection and verify that all the files are in the MP3 format. The simplest, most foolproof way to make an MP3 CD is to use a jukebox program like iTunes, Windows Media Player, or Winamp. Since iTunes is both Mac and PC compatible, I'm gonna show you how to burn an MP3 CD in iTunes. First, make a playlist and fill it with all the songs you want to burn to CD. A typical blank CD holds around 700 megabytes of music, so check on the bottom of the playlist window and make sure you haven't exceeded capacity. Next, while you're in the playlist, hit the burn disc button in the bottom right corner. You should see a burn settings window, with options for audio CD, MP3 CD, and data CD. Choose the MP3 CD option and hit burn. Now, the drawback to using iTunes instead of burning an MP3 CD directly from your desktop is that you don't get the nested folders. The enters all will have your files thrown into one directory, just like the playlist you used to create it. The upshot is that it's less complicated to create and navigation is identical to playing a regular audio CD. That's it. That's how to create and MP3 CD. It's a handy way to fit a lot of music onto a single CD. They're cheap to make. You don't have to recharge them. And unlike an iPod, it's unlikely anyone's gonna break into your car to steal them. For CNET.com, I 'm Donald Bell.
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