New in iTunes 4.5 is the ability to print CD covers. That's great, but what about the CD-R itself? It'd be nice to print a label for the CD, or to print directly on a printable CD-R. You can do it, with just a few steps. You'll need iTunes 4.5 and a printer that can print CD labels or directly on a white printable CD (such as an Epson 300). An image editing tool that can rasterize PDF files (such as Photoshop Elements) is nice but not required if your CD printing software can read PDF files directly.
- In iTunes 4.5, select a playlist and then at the main menu select File -> Print... and choose Mosiac (or White Mosiac) to print a collage of album covers from the current playlist.
- Click Print... to get to the printer dialog.
- Instead of printing the cover, select Save as PDF... and save it to a file.
- Use Photoshop Elements to rasterize the PDF to a bitmap. (File -> Import -> PDF Image).
- Select the first page of the PDF and click OK to rasterize it and open it.
- Modify the image as you like (add text, crop, etc.), then save it as a file (BMP, JPEG, or whatever your CD label printing software can use as an image/background).
- In your CD printing software (mine is Epson's Print CD), select the image you just saved and put it on the CD as a background or image.
- Print the CD from your CD printing software.
Congratulations. You now have a beautifully custom labeled CD-R, like
this one.