I fought against learning how to create my own CD’s. I hired a college student to convert my DVDs into CD’s because I didn’t want to learn how to do it because it seemed to difficult and time consuming.
Then one day, I had to edit a program I had done to provide a 5 minute promo piece for a new speaking engagement I was up for. I called a friend, Jerry, who has a studio in his home and asked what he recommended for me to use. He told me about Audacity, which is free and is used to edit and convert files from one format to another. Another friend who had been doing his own CD’s for several years recommended Sony Studio. So I got both and began to try and figure it out.
Sony Studio is easy to learn. I was listening to one of my first attempts in my car but after I got out to run into a store and came back, the CD began playing at the beginning. I called Jerry again and he said I needed to insert Tracks (like where one song starts on a music CD) into the audio to make sure it would’t do that.
I have an artist I’m particularly fond of, Patrick O’Hearn and I decided I’d email him in Ireland and ask permission to use one of his tracks for the intro and exit music on my CD’s. Surprisingly, he gave me permission. So I insert about 15 seconds at the beginning and at the end of each of my audios. It gives it a more finished quality.