iTunes: Adding songs from CDs to your library
Summary
You can import songs from your CDs into your iTunes library. Imported songs are encoded and stored on your hard disk so you can listen to them without having the original CD.
Products Affected
iPod, iTunes, iPhone
If you have QuickTime 6.2 or later installed, the default encoding format is MPEG-4 AAC, a file format that stores a lot of audio information in a small amount of space. If you have an earlier version of QuickTime, the default format is MP3 (or whatever you last chose in Importing preferences).
For the best performance and results, use the computer's internal CD or DVD drive to import songs.
- Insert an audio CD in your computer. After a moment, the songs on the CD are listed in the iTunes window.
- Click to remove the checkmark next to any songs you don't want to import into your library.
- If you want to remove the gap of silence that normally occurs between songs, select two or more adjacent songs and from the Advanced menu, choose Join CD Tracks.
- iTunes imports any joined songs as one track. To change back to importing the songs separately, select the joined songs and from the Advanced menu, choose Unjoin CD Tracks.
- Click the Import button to add the selected songs to your library.
Tip: iTunes 7 introduced a gapless playback option that doesn't require joining CD tracks. See "What is Gapless Playback?" for more information.
The display area at the top of the iTunes window shows how much time it will take to import each song. To cancel import, click the small X next to the progress bar.
By default, iTunes plays songs while they're being imported. You can click the Pause button to stop playback, or continue to use iTunes for other tasks; the import will continue. You can also stop iTunes from playing songs automatically by deselecting the "Play songs while importing" checkbox in the Importing pane of iTunes preferences.
For information about changing import options (such as the encoding format), search the Knowledge Base or iTunes Help.