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How to Burn Apple Music to Audio CD with iTunes or Music App

Linda Shaw | October 9, 2022 | License plans: 1 month $14.95, 3 months $29.95 & more | Buy Windows Version | Buy macOS Version

Summary

In the old days, we usually enjoyed music with audio CD. However, digital download and streaming music service have changed the things. In 2014, CD album sales fell behind album downloads for first time, and then CD users decreased every year. However, audio CD is still the favorite way to enjoy music for many users. Some of them also subscribed Apple Music and wanted to burn downloaded Apple Music tracks to an audio CD with iTunes or Music app, just like what they have done before, however, iTunes or Music app will show the error message that the track is an Apple Music song and cannot be burned to the disc. If you want to fix this problem and burn your Apple Music songs to audio CD, please do not miss TuneMobie Apple Music Converter which can convert Apple Music songs to burnable audio formats.

Can I Burn Apple Music Tracks to Audio CD with iTunes or Music App?

Burn Apple Music to CD

You may have used iTunes or Music app to burn songs you purchased from iTunes Store, or you added from external sources to your music library. There is nothing difficult. You just need to add the songs to a playlist and then burn the playlist to audio CD or MP3 CD as you like.

Many users thought they would be able to burn Apple Music songs like what they did before. However, if all the songs in a playlist are Apple Music songs, you can't even find the menu "Burn Playlist to Disc". If there are some unprotected songs and some Apple Music songs, the playlist will be burnable. Right-click on the playlist and you will see the menu "Burn Playlist to Disc", but when you click Burn button, iTunes will prompt you a warning dialog, telling that "Some of the files cannot be burned to an Audio CD. Do you still want to burn the remainder of this playlist", check the details and you will see "the track is an Apple Music song and cannot be burned to disc".

Apple Music Burning Error

The test above helps us reach a conclusion that Apple Music songs can't be burned to audio CD or MP3 CD. Maybe the result is predictable. If you can burn Apple Music songs to an audio CD, you then can use a CD ripper to rip the songs to MP3/M4A. That is why Apple have stopped such a leak.

When using Music app on macOS Catalina or later, the pattern of the error dialog may be a little different, but the message will be telling the thing, that is you can't burn Apple Music songs to a disc.


The Things You Need to Burn Apple Music Songs to Audio CD

When burning songs to a disc, you need a blank CD-R disc, a burning program and the songs you want to burn. However, as the Apple Music songs can't be burned to a disc, we need to convert Apple Music songs to burnable audio formats like MP3, M4A or WAV with a professional Apple Music Converter first. So you will need the following items to burn Apple Music songs to audio CD.

A Windows or Mac Computer

The Windows or Mac computer should be compatible with the Apple Music Converter. TuneMobie Apple Music Converter, the recommended solution of Apple Music burning problem, can work on Windows 7 and above as well as macOS High Sierra 10.13 and above.

A Disc Burner

Make sure you have a disc burner. As long as it's a disc burner, you can use to burn CD disc. However, please note that CD reader, DVD reader or even Blu-ray reader without burning ability is not able to write a CD disc. There should be "RW" logo on your burner which means read and write.

If your computer doesn't come with a disc burner, you can get a USB CD/DVD/BD burner and connect it with your computer.

A Blank CD-R

You need a blank CD-R to hold the songs. A rewritable CD-RW is also OK, but unless you don't want to keep the CD any more, you won't be able to reuse the CD-RW disc.

A Burning Program

Both iTunes and Music app is able to burn disc. In this article, we discuss the topic of burning Apple Music songs to audio CD, so you don't need any other burning programs. Of cource, if you like using other burning programs, you can burn the converted Apple Music songs to audio CD with them as well.

A Playlist

You will need to create a playlist in iTunes or Music app where the converted Apple Music songs are added to.


TuneMobie Apple Music Converter – Perfect Solution for Burning Apple Music to CD

TuneMobie Apple Music Converter is a perfect solution to fix the problem of burning Apple Music to CD. It can convert Apple Music songs, albums and playlists to MP3, M4A, WAV, AIFF, etc. which you can burn to a dsic with iTunes or Music app. TuneMobie Apple Music Converter comes with an easy-to-use interface, 20X faster conversion speed, flexible settings and rich wonderful features.

TuneMobie Apple Music Converter

  • Convert Apple Music songs, albums and playlists to MP3, M4A, WAV, AIFF, etc.
  • Convert Apple Music with a built-in web player without using iTunes or Music app
  • Keep music information including title, album, artist, track number and artwork
  • Rename output files in bulk by title, album, artist, track number, hyphen, space, etc.
  • Sort output files into folders by album, artist, artist/album or album/artist.
  • Losslessly convert 256kbps Apple Music AAC file to 320kbps MP3 or 256kbps M4A
  • Enjoy incredible 20X faster conversion speed on both Windows and macOS
  • Fully compatible with latest Windows and macOS (Intel & Apple silicon)

The free trial version of TuneMobie Apple Music Converter allows you to convert 3 minutes of each song and convert 3 files at a time. If you want to burn your favorite Apple Music songs to audio CD or MP3 CD, do not hesitate to download it and have a try.


Convert Apple Music Songs to Burnable Audio Formats like MP3/M4A/WAV

Let's check how to use TuneMobie Apple Music Converter to convert Apple Music songs to MP3, M4A or WAV. These formats can be burned to a disc with iTunes or Music app.

Step 1: Launch TuneMobie Apple Music Converter and Sign in

Launch TuneMobie Apple Music Converter and you will see a built-in Apple Music web player. Click "Sign In" button at the upper right to sign in the Apple Music web player. You don't need to enter Apple ID and password next time if you don't sign out. After signing in, all Apple Music playlists in your library will be displayed in the left panel.

Launch TuneMobie Apple Music Converter

Step 2: Choose Output Format

The default output format is AUTO option (256kbps M4A) and you can use it directly. If necessary, you can also click Settings icon at the upper right to open Settings dialog, then change output format to MP3, M4A, WAV or AIFF. Please note that FLAC can't be added to iTunes or Music app. In Settings dialog, you can also change output folder, the way of renaming and sorting output files, action after conversion, etc. We recommend you choose "Open output folder" after conversion which will be convenient for burning later.

TuneMobie Apple Music Converter output settings

Step 3: Open Apple Music Album/Playlist

Go back to the built-in Apple Music web player and browse your favorite album or playlist, then open the detailed page of an album or a playlist and song list will be displayed.

TuneMobie Apple Music Converter interface

Step 4: Add Album/Playlist to Conversion List

You can easily find a button in the center right, move your mouse to the button and it will be changed to "Add to list" button. Click "Add to list" button to add all the songs in the album/playlist to conversion list.

Add Apple Music album/playlist to conversion list

Step 5: Choose the Songs

All the songs will be checked by default. If you don't want to convert some of the songs, you can simply uncheck them.

Conversion list

Step 6: Start Apple Music Conversion

Now simply click the Convert button to start converting Apple Music songs to your selected format.

Converting Apple Music songs


Steps to Burn Converted Apple Music Tracks to Audio CD with iTunes on Windows

After conversion, you can burn the output files to audio CD with iTunes on Windows or macOS up to Mojave 10.14.6. You can check the steps below as a reference.

Step 1: Add converted Apple Music songs to iTunes library

Launch iTunes and click "File" > "Add Files to Library…" to import the converted Apple Music tracks from the output folder of TuneMobie Apple Music Converter. Or you can click "File" & "Add Folder to Library…" to import a folder if you have sorted output songs into folders.

Add songs to iTunes Library

Step 2: Create a playlist and add the converted Apple Music songs

Now click menu "File" > "New" > "Playlist" to create a playlist. Once it is created, it will be displayed in the "Playlists" section at the upper left panel. Now you can select the songs and add them to this playlist.

Create a new playlist

Tip: The converted Apple Music songs you added to iTunes library may be identical to original Apple Music songs. Sometimes, it may be difficult to distinguish. But you can easily avoid the problems by adding the converted Apple Music songs from "Recently Added" list. Or you can directly drag and drop the converted Apple Music songs to the playlist.

Step 3: Insert a blank CD-R disc

Now, insert a blank CD-R disc and iTunes may pop up a dialog like the one below. There are some useful tips in the dialog. After checking the tips, you can click OK button and go to next step.

iTunes CD dialog

Step 4: Click "Burn Playlist to Disc"

Now go to "Playlists" section and find the playlist you have created. Right-click the playlist and click "Burn Playlist to Disc".

Burn the playlist to disc

Step 5: Adjust burning settings

In the burning settings dialog, you can adjust settings. As to "Preferred Speed", we recommend slower speed for better quality. Choose "Audio CD" in Disc Format list and you should also check "Include CD Text" in order to keep the music information. As to MP3 CD, you need to confirm whether your CD player can support first.

iTunes burning settings

Step 6: Start burning Apple Music songs to CD

Now, you can simply click "Burn" button to start burning the converted Apple Music songs to audio CD or MP3 CD. Once it's done, the CD disc will be ejected and you can start enjoying your favorite Apple Music songs via CD player.


Steps to Burn Converted Apple Music Tracks to Audio CD with Music app on macOS

On macOS Catalina 10.15, iTunes was replaced by Music app. You can check how to burn converted Apple Music songs to audio CD with music app. There isn't much difference from the steps on Windows.

Step 1: Add converted Apple Music songs to Music app

Launch Music app, click menu "File" > "Import" to browse the output folder of TuneMobie Apple Music Converter, then add the output songs to music library.

Import converted Apple Music songs to Music app

Step 2: Create a playlist and add songs

Click menu "File" > "New" > "Playlist" to create a playlist. The converted Apple Music songs you have added to music library in step 1 can be easily found in "Recently added" list. Click "Recently added" list and choose the songs, then right-click them and add to this playlist.

Create a new playlist

Step 3: Insert a blank CD-R disc

Now insert a blank CD-R disc to your CD burner on Mac. Mac will pop up a dialog to ask you to choose an action. Please choose "Open Music" in action list.

Open Music app in CD dialog

Step 4: Click "Burn Playlist to Disc"

Now find the new playlist you have just created in the left Playlist panel. Then right-click the playlist and click menu "Burn Playlist to Disc".

Step 5: Adjust burning settings

As you can see, the pattern of the dialog is a little different from the Burning Settings on Windows, but the options are the same. So choose "Audio CD" or "MP3 CD" depending on the functions of your CD player. When choosing "Audio CD", please do not forget to check the option "Include CD Text".

Burning settings

Step 6: Start burning Apple Music songs to CD

Click "Burn" button to write the songs to the disc. When CD burning finishes, the disc will be ejected and your work of burning Apple Music songs to audio CD or MP3 CD is done. Now you can insert the CD to your CD player and use the old way to start enjoying the music.


Final Words

It's not strange that Apple doesn't allow users to burn Apple Music songs to audio CD or MP3 CD. However, if you want to stick to your old way of enjoying music, converting Apple Music songs to burnable audio formats like MP3/M4A/WAV is the only solution.

Nowadays, streaming music services is the mainstream way to enjoy music on different devices. And those technology giants including Amazon, Apple, Google, Spotify, etc. are competing for market share more and more fiercely. Sooner or later, more and more music fans who are still using audio CD or MP3 CD will switch to streaming music services unconsciously. However, it's still a long way to go before we can see the declaration for the CD's death.

If you want to burn Apple Music songs to your CD disc, or you want to avoid the problem of "Apple Music tracks cannot be burned to the disc", please do not hesitate to download TuneMobie Apple Music Converter and have a try first.

Apple Music Converter How-to Guides