Stupid question... how do I burn a data DVD?

I've had my Mac for a while and am becoming quite fluent in Tiger and Quicksilver.

But I have no idea which iLife app I am supposed to burn a data DVD with (for mp3 files)... I thought maybe iDVD but then it started asking me what aspect ratio I wanted, d'oh!

 

Just right-click and select "New burn foler", then add whatever data you want to burn to that folder.

 

Thanks man, easy peasy

 

oh. not so easy peasy. I created the burn folder and inserted a blank dvd.

I get an error message that the disk needs to be at least 2GB in size. The DVD is 4.7Gb and I have tried three of them.

Any ideas?

 

Strange... do you have an entirely different brand or type of recordable DVD around that you can try?

 

No I don't and the ones I have are top quality always worked fine with my PC.

I'll look into it later, cheers.

 

you need toast to do any real burning, just as you need nero on a pc.

 

I disagree. hooly, which notebook do you have just of curiosity? I only ask because it seems that your drive is seeing that DVD as a CD, so be sure you have an actual DVD burner because the base model MacBooks do not. If you do have a DVD burner, try it with different media. In all honesty for most burning needs, Finder is good. If you need more I would try out the demo of Disco before jumping to Toast, which is pricey and starting to get bloated, just like it's Windows cousin Nero.

 

I don't do much burning, so I just use Finder. Its simple and it works well if you just want to drag some files and burn it onto the CD/DVD.

I have the same suspicion as cash...do you have the base MacBook? The base MacBook cannot burn DVDs, just CDs. Anyways, I'd suggest you test out the drive; get rid of a lot of the folders you were planning to burn and try burning some folders into the CD. Make sure the drive works.

 

obviously you should be able to burn a dvd without toast. if you want control over what type of cd / dvd (audio, video, data, mac, pc, both) that sort of thing- you need toast.

 

Well iTunes will do your audio just fine, be it a normal CD or mp3 CD. Finder makes data discs that works on both PC and Mac, iDVD will burn video that will work in a DVD player. I just think Toast is way overpriced at $79.99 when Finder will do 99% of any burning you will likely need, and for the stuff it won't do Disco will work and it is only $29.95 and much more lightweight. I think Toast should be reserved for those who need a specific format or feature that only it does, which I don't even know of one off the top of my head.

 

oh, good point actually. i didn't even think of that.

well, dont buy toast then.

 

sorry, I've been away.

I have a MBP, 2.33Ghz. It should be more than capable of burning a DVD!

I gave up in the end and have not had time to experiment with it since.

 

If you/ or anyone is interested in a lightweight simple cd/dvd burner, theres a nice bit of freeware called 'Burn'.

You can download it here http://burn-osx.sourceforge.net/

I found it on the mac os x open source page, its a really handy list of free apps to get you started http://www.opensourcemac.org/