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I have the brand new MBA and I want to convert music from CDs to Apple Music files, how can I do that?

a-m-k

a-m-k

macrumors 68000
Original poster
Sep 3, 2009
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I think all I need is a CD burner, but what I have been told, they no longer are produced. Do I have any other options?

Thank you.
 
a-m-k said:
I think all I need is a CD burner, but what I have been told, they no longer are produced. Do I have any other options?

Thank you.
Click to expand...
In other words, you want to import the music from your CDs into Apple Music, is that correct? Are you starting from CD media, or do you already have the data from your CDs in some data format on your hard drive?

If you're starting from CD media, open Apple Music, insert the CD into your CD player that's connected to your Mac (you may see a dialog box asking to approve the connection), and eventually you will see a dialog box that asks you to import the music into your music library. Done.
 
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a-m-k said:
I think all I need is a CD burner, but what I have been told, they no longer are produced.
Click to expand...

I don't know how exaggerated rumours of their death have been, but there are still plenty of USB optical drives for sale (USB DVD and BluRay burners will do the same job) - most will work with Mac (mine is too old to recommend). It doesn't have to be a "burner" although most are.

Maybe don't wait another year to do it, though...

It should "just work" with Apple Music as described above.

I'd second the recommendation for XLD if you want to get serious and rip lossless versions or use other music players. It can do things like creating multiple formats in one go (maybe a lossless .flac for archival and a compressed .aac for use in Music).
 
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All you need is a PC/Mac CD Player that supports your Mac, that is it. Apple Music can convert a CD into ALAC/AAC rips I think. Of course there would be other software available based on your specific requirements.

From CD Players to Blu ray writers and rewriters, everything should be easily available on Amazon.
 
Does ANY optical disk reader/writer work with Tahoe? I recently read that driver support for optical disks was dropped on new Macs, and not available at all after Tahoe.
Can anyone verify that?
 
DeltaMac said:
Does ANY optical disk reader/writer work with Tahoe? I recently read that driver support for optical disks was dropped on new Macs, and not available at all after Tahoe.
Can anyone verify that?
Click to expand...
Just tried my SuperDrive on my MBP running 26.1RC. The SuperDrive wouldn’t even take in the CD. Reconnected to my iMac running Sequoia and it worked as expected: the CD was pulled into the drive and Apple Music opened. So you may be on to something.

Guess my iMac is staying on 15.7.1 then. I still have a wall of CDs.

Edit: Issue was caused by PEBCAK. SuperDrive is working as expected in 26.1.
 
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DeltaMac said:
Does ANY optical disk reader/writer work with Tahoe? I recently read that driver support for optical disks was dropped on new Macs, and not available at all after Tahoe.
Can anyone verify that?
Click to expand...
my Asus zen drive external usb_c is being ripped by "Music"
ELP brain salad surgery
tempImageiSvOso.jpg


I could not find my cd Tonya Tucker of Delta Dawn CD..if I had one.
 
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MBAir2010 said:
my Asus zen drive external usb_c is being ripped by "Music"
ELP brain salad surgery
View attachment 2574093

I could not find my cd Tonya Tucker of Delta Dawn CD..if I had one.
Click to expand...
I wonder why my SuperDrive wouldn’t work then?

Also, great album choice. 👍

Edit: the “Allow USB Connection?” Dialog was hidden behind another window. Just tried again and my SuperDrive is working as expected.
 
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Which MBA model is that? Looks 2018-2020 Intel, or 2020 M1.

Thanks for the tip about the USB connection. Need to recheck on mine, too
 
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DeltaMac said:
Which MBA model is that? Looks 2018-2020 Intel, or 2020 M1.

Thanks for the tip about the USB connection. Need to recheck on mine, too
Click to expand...
the 2020 M1 I had that in the shelf until I switched this on to respond to your post.
I was using Tahoe OS.
there are better programs like MKV or MediaHuman convert,
but I wondered if music on Tahoe could import a CD as well.
 
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1. Search for a "Apple USB Superdrive" on Ebay.com. They are for sale from $20 unboxed to $100 boxed.
2. Also purchase a USB-C to USB-A Adapter from Apple for $19.95 Apple Cable

​

I use the Superdrive to rip CD's and it just works, and has worked for 10 years. I can also watch DVD movies on my laptop, extending its value. CD's and DVD's at Goodwill are now $2 each now. I have converted all my music to MP3 format for maximum compatability.
 
aakshey said:
All you need is a PC/Mac CD Player that supports your Mac, that is it. Apple Music can convert a CD into ALAC/AAC rips I think. Of course there would be other software available based on your specific requirements.

From CD Players to Blu ray writers and rewriters, everything should be easily available on Amazon.
Click to expand...
What do you mean? I have the brand new MBA that was just released, which means there is no slot for a cd.
 
a-m-k said:
What do you mean? I have the brand new MBA that was just released, which means there is no slot for a cd.
Click to expand...
They mean plug something like this into a USB port:

www.amazon.com

HP External Portable Slim Design CD/DVD RW Write/Read Drive, USB, Black (F2B56AA)

The USB External DVD/RW Optical Drive from HP is an external disc drive capable of writing data to both CDs and DVDs. The external nature of this disc drive allows you to take it with you on the go. Simply plug this bus powered drive into either a USB 3.0 or USB 2.0 port and begin enjoying all of...
www.amazon.com
 
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You may want to check first if each CD is already available in Apple Music, in which case you can just add it to your library and it won't take memory space if it's in the cloud.
 
It's been removed. I just want one particular album, I have it on CD, but want to convert it to a mp4 so I can add it to my Apple Music library.
 
a-m-k said:
It's been removed. I just want one particular album, I have it on CD, but want to convert it to a mp4 so I can add it to my Apple Music library.
Click to expand...
Do you mean MP3? You can also consider Apple's AAC format, offering better audio quality at an equal rate and better compression.
If your CD isn't available on Apple Music, search its songs to see if they're available on other albums. You can then add them individually to a playlist to reconstitute your CD.
Otherwise, you'll need to connect a CD drive to your MacBook indeed.
 
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erihp said:
may as well get a bluray model not too much more of a cost difference
Click to expand...
I've been thinking about this for awhile. I have a fairly large Blu-Ray / DVD collection, which I currently use my PS3 to watch on my TV. But I think for longevity purposes, it would be good to have an external Blu-Ray/DVD/CD drive that connects via USB going forward.

Does anyone know of good, current Mac software that will play BluRay movies well?
 
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