How To Set DVD Burning Preferences in iTunes

If you have an iPod, iPad, or an iPhone, you are most likely familiar with iTunes. It is a multimedia player software program designed for use with iPods, iPads, and iPhones. In addition to playing music and videos, iTunes can also organize your digital video and music files. With iTunes, you can easily manage the multimedia files on your iPod, iPhone, or iPad.

Another useful feature of iTunes is its direct connection to the iTunes Store, where you can make online purchases of copyrighted multimedia content such as music, videos, TV broadcasts, games, audio and electronic books, full-length movies, and ringtones for your iPhone. The store also sells software applications for iPads, iPods, and iPhones.

As part of iTunes’ function to manage and organize your multimedia files, it allows you to backup your files to a DVD disc. iTunes actually does it quite well, with hardly any tinkering with the out-of-the-box setup. However, there may be cases when you need to alter the DVD burning settings in iTunes. Do you know how? Read on for the steps on setting the DVD burning settings for your iTunes installation.

* Start up the iTunes application. You need iTunes to run so that you can configure the DVD burning preferences.
* Open the dialog for Preferences. You can do this by selecting Edit > Preferences from the menu bar. The dialog box will open immediately. This dialog contains all the settings and configurations that you can change for your iTunes installation.
* Select the tab labelled “Advanced.” This tab is where you can make the changes for many iTunes features, including preferences for burning DVD.
* Set which DVD drive to use. In the Advanced tab, you can select a specific DVD drive to use as default device for burning DVDs. If you have several DVD drives, they will be listed here. Make sure you choose a DVD burning drive.
* Configure the burning speed. A predetermined list (based on your selected DVD drive’s capabilities) will be displayed in a drop-down list. Select the optimal speed for the selected drive. If you notice problems with burning files to DVD (e.g., failed burns), try setting the burn speed to a lower number and increasing the gap in between the song files.
* Choose a default format for burning files to DVD disc. You can choose either data, audio, or MP3. Remember, though, that all DVD players will play DVD audio and video. However, not all DVD players can play MP3 DVDs or data DVDs.
* Configure the settings for audio. These options are helpful when burning sound files to disc. If you want to level the volume of all sound tracks before burning them to disc, make sure you enable “Use Sound Check.” You can also enable the inclusion of CD Text to automatically title your disc. The value for in-between song gaps (expressed in seconds) can be set here, too.


Normally, you won’t need to set DVD burning preferences in iTunes. With just a few button clicks, you can easily back up your song and movie files to a DVD. But, just in case you need to change some of the settings, the tips in this article will be handy.