Apple Computer need help - Not as easy as I've heard!....

[Cut-Throat]

So a friend of mine gets an Apple (G5 I think) and can't figure out how to copy a Music CD or even if his machine has the capability.

He asks me, because I can do pretty much anything with Windows. I go over to his house this afternoon and after a pretty frustrating hour and a half, I get a CD copied. But what I had to go through was so complicated that he was convinced (and me too) that he could not be trained in a reasonably short period of time.

I started with the Apple Help system (which was far more unfriendly, than I've been led to believe by other Apple users). This led me to a Function called 'Disk Utility' - This function frustrated me for about an hour - not intuitive at all. Anyway it basically has you insert the disk to be copied, and after clicking buttons for about a half hour I got the system to save the CD to disk (The help was not much help). Clicking on more buttons on this utility for another half hour, I managed to get the image burned onto a CD.

Question for you apple experts - Is there a simple utility on a MAC that allows you to copy a CD, that I could train my friend in on how to do this?

I have used dozens of Windows utilities and I have not found one yet that was as complex and non-intuitive as the Apple "Disk Utility". BTW my friend is not an idiot. He is a M.D. specializing in Internal Medicine. - Most highly regarded in the Minneapolis Area.

 

[bpp]

No help, but I can sympathize. I find Macintoshes to have the the most infuriatingly unintuitive user interface I've ever used. Heck, even VMS was easier to use (it at least had useful manuals). Apple has gone straight downhill since the Apple II.

Bpp

 

[cute fuzzy bunny]

I think it helps if you dont understand how to use a computer and just do what makes sense as a neophyte.

When my wife got her mac, I could never figure out how to do stuff with it, but she could.

You're just lucky the thing didnt bite you. Dang sharp teeth those things have.

 

[Cut-Throat]

I think it helps if you dont understand how to use a computer and just do what makes sense as a neophyte.

When my wife got her mac, I could never figure out how to do stuff with it, but she could.

You're just lucky the thing didnt bite you. Dang sharp teeth those things have.

My friend the M.D., knows nothing about computers. Maybe it would help if he only had a high school diploma?

 

[TromboneAl]

What's wrong with these computer and OS designers?  It should be as easy as clicking a button that says "Copy a CD."  Sheesh.  

 

[cute fuzzy bunny]

My friend the M.D., knows nothing about computers. Maybe it would help if he only had a high school diploma?

Nope, my wife went to college too and works in health care, so its not schooling or the particular field of work thats the culprit...

I looked up the 'proper process' with google and it sure didnt look that easy.

 

[Outtahere]

That's one thing I've never tried to do on my Mac.  The one I have here at home does not have a CD burner but the one at work does....I'll have to take a CD to work and try it.  I know burning them is easy, stick in disk, name it, Click and drag what you want to the CD, push burn button...done.  I do that to transfer things to the other 20 computers in the office, works the same with music I've downloaded, just click and drag.  

 

[Cut-Throat]

That's one thing I've never tried to do on my Mac. The one I have here at home does not have a CD burner but the one at work does....I'll have to take a CD to work and try it. I know burning them is easy, stick in disk, name it, Click and drag what you want to the CD, push burn button...done. I do that to transfer things to the other 20 computers in the office, works the same with music I've downloaded, just click and drag.

What application are you using?

 

[Nords]

Maybe the Mac requires its own vocabulary and you have to search the Help index for the words "rip", "mix", and "burn"...

 

[Outtahere]

Cut, I'm not using any application per say but like I said I've never tried to copy a CD then burn it to another. I'll definately try it tomorrow. What OS is he using OS X?

 

[Cut-Throat]

Cut, I'm not using any application per say but like I said I've never tried to copy a CD then burn it to another. I'll definately try it tomorrow. What OS is he using OS X?

He's got the latest and greatest apple machine! I think that is the OS

When you say you are not using any application, I am really confused. When you approach the Apple monitor what do you before you 'start dragging and dropping'? You say you just stick a disk in it. Some program has to be starting up?

 

[yelnad]

Try this:

1. Insert a blank CD or DVD disc into the optical drive of your computer.

2. Type a name for the disc in the dialog that appears (if CDs & DVDs preferences are set to "Ask what to do"), or under the CD icon if no dialog appears.

If you see the dialog, you can choose an action from the pop-up menu and select "Make this action the default" if you want the same thing to happen every time you insert a blank disc. Then click OK.

3. Drag files and folders to the open disc window and arrange the files exactly as you want them. The names of files, folders, and the disc can't be changed after the CD is burned.

4. Choose File > Burn Disc.

5. Select the burn speed and click Burn.

OR THIS:

1. Choose File > New Burn Folder, and give the folder a name.

2. Drag the items you want on a disc to the burn folder.

3. When you're ready to burn the folder's contents to a disc, double-click it, and click Burn.

4. Insert a disc, and follow the instructions.

 

[grumpy]

I am copying a music CD right now on my new iBook G4. I inserted the music cd in the drive and opened the "Finder". In the left column I see the music disk. If I click on it, I see the songs in the list on the right side. Under the finder menu on the tool bar at the top I open new finder. In the new finder window, open the documents folder. You should see a "Burn folder". If not, you should find a "new burn folder" under the tool bar menu. In the original finder, highlight the first song. Hold down shift and click the last song in the list. This will select all the songs. Drag the highlighted songs to the burn folder in the other finder window. After the copy is completed (takes a while) eject the music cd. Click the burn button at the upper right of the finder window. You will be prompted to insert a blank cd and the burn will start.

This is the first time I tried this and I have only had the mac laptop for two weeks so I am still learning my way around.

Grumpy

 

[yelnad]

There are at least a half dozen ways to do it. You can also use iTunes or iPhoto to burn cd's (software that usually comes with a Mac). Open "Mac help" and search "burn cd."

Macs are very intuitive if you can forget everything you ever learned about windows, but that's really hard to do. The first few days I just stared at the damn thing until I slowly figured it out. Now I'll never go back.

 

[Outtahere]

I don't even do that much Grumpy

Put in new disk, computer asks to name it...do that and it mounts the CD

Drag what I want to copy to the CD

Once that is done I drag the CD to the trash, it turns the button to the burn button and wahla burned CD


Very true...you can't approach it like a windows machine.

 

[Cut-Throat]

I typed in Copy CD into the Help and it directed me to "Disk Utility" - That program is a nghtmare!

 

[Cut-Throat]

I don't even do that much Grumpy

Put in new disk, computer asks to name it...do that and it mounts the CD

Drag what I want to copy to the CD

Once that is done I drag the CD to the trash, it turns the button to the burn button and wahla burned CD


Very true...you can't approach it like a windows machine.

I am guessing that you are not copying the Entire CD this way. You are are just pulling songs from one CD to another. Some CDs have a short video in the front of the CD. You have to copy the entire CD to get these.

So, How do you copy the entire CD?

 

[grumpy]

I am copying a music CD right now on my new iBook G4. I inserted the music cd in the drive and opened the "Finder". In the left column I see the music disk. If I click on it, I see the songs in the list on the right side. Under the finder menu on the tool bar at the top I open new finder. In the new finder window, open the documents folder. You should see a "Burn folder". If not, you should find a "new burn folder" under the tool bar menu. In the original finder, highlight the first song. Hold down shift and click the last song in the list. This will select all the songs. Drag the highlighted songs to the burn folder in the other finder window. After the copy is completed (takes a while) eject the music cd. Click the burn button at the upper right of the finder window. You will be prompted to insert a blank cd and the burn will start.

This is the first time I tried this and I have only had the mac laptop for two weeks so I am still learning my way around.

Grumpy

Sorry guys, but my advice above was bad. What I wound up with was a cd with separate data files for each song. Each song would play on the laptop if I clicked on it but the cd would not play in the cd player on my stereo. Back to the drawing board. I think I will try it using iTunes. I'll let you know how I make out.

Grumpy

 

[Outtahere]

Sorry i got to work and forgot to bring in a CD to try it. All the kids here use IPods so I'm out of luck for today.

 

[HFWR]

Don't know sh!t abouts MACs, but I've had good luck with ripping and burning using both Musicmatch and <gasp> Media Player. Which ever is the default, when you stick a CD in the drive, they should open automatically...

Btw, the info provided here is not warrantied in any way...

 

[whitestick]

There are two pieces to understanding what you want to do here. And yes it does help to forget all the pain of what you have to know with Windows, and just act like doing what you want to do in real life.
What you didn't ask about is, the Mac makes it easy to create music CDs from individual songs, or your own creations. Just drag the songs to a blank disk and when you have what you want you can burn disk under file as others have suggested. You can also do the same thing through the included application called itunes, which should launch when you insert a music cd, to allow you to copy individual songs into the database stored on the Mac (which you can then burn to the blank CD as already mentioned)
Now to do what you originally asked for - copy one CD to another. That does take an external program, and I personally use Toast - similar to CD creator, or other programs mentioned by other posters, but which is made for the Mac. For that you launch the program, select the option to copy cds, hit the big red record button on the program window, and follow instructions to insert the original cd and then the blank. Works great. Warning - when copying proprietary programs with copywrites, sometimes it won't let you. Apple adheres to non-support of pirating.

 

[Cut-Throat]

There are two pieces to understanding what you want to do here. And yes it does help to forget all the pain of what you have to know with Windows, and just act like doing what you want to do in real life.
What you didn't ask about is, the Mac makes it easy to create music CDs from individual songs, or your own creations. Just drag the songs to a blank disk and when you have what you want you can burn disk under file as others have suggested. You can also do the same thing through the included application called itunes, which should launch when you insert a music cd, to allow you to copy individual songs into the database stored on the Mac (which you can then burn to the blank CD as already mentioned)
Now to do what you originally asked for - copy one CD to another. That does take an external program, and I personally use Toast - similar to CD creator, or other programs mentioned by other posters, but which is made for the Mac. For that you launch the program, select the option to copy cds, hit the big red record button on the program window, and follow instructions to insert the original cd and then the blank. Works great. Warning - when copying proprietary programs with copywrites, sometimes it won't let you. Apple adheres to non-support of pirating.

Never experiened the 'pain' of Windows that I just experienced with the MAC. I did accomplish it finally, but it was not a smooth process at all. And I would not train a neophyte in this, even though he has been an Apple user for a few users. Maybe it's because he has an M.D. degree and too smart to use an Apple.

Mind you the Apple 'Help' System led me to 'Disk Utility' - Which was more 'user hostile' than any Windows program I've seen. - If you have to use a 3rd party program to copy an entire CD, then So be it. But I had been told for 10 years how friendly a MAC is. - And well, it isn't!

I'll give Toast a shot - Thanks for your recommendation - BTW - I will become an Apple user when they have greater than 50% market share, despite of the Cumbersome OS!

 

[cute fuzzy bunny]

Ok so the dang things arent easier to use, but the good news is they cost a lot more