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Burn an audio or DAISY Disc with Windows 8.1

Last updated: August 16, 2021

Our thanks to Diane at the Boyne Regional Library in Carman, MB for developing and sharing these instructions!

Windows 8.1 Users:

  1. Download a DAISY or MP3 book from NNELS and unzip it on your computer.
  2. Open the unzipped folder (not the one with the .zip file extension);
  3. In the folder, select all of the files to create a DAISY CD, or just the MP3 files to create an audio CD.
  4. Click on the “Share” option on the top left-hand side of the screen and then select “Burn to disc”.
  5. The DVD/CD drawer will open. Insert a blank CD.
  6. The pop-up will ask you how you want to use this disc. Select “with a  CD/DVD player”. You can add a title if you want.
  7. The computer will copy files and show them as ready to be written to the disc.
  8. On your desktop, go to "This PC”.    
  9. Right click on DVD RW drive (E:).
  10. Click “Burn to disc”.
  11. You will see a message to “Prepare this disc”. Click “Next”.
  12. In the next window, choose “Make a data CD” and then click “Next”.
  13. The computer will begin to burn the disc and the process should take about 60-90 seconds to complete. When the disc is done, the computer’s drawer will pop open.
  14. Click “Finish” and with a pen or marker write the name of the book on the disc.

Trouble-shooting

  • Disc won't play: confirm that you burned the folder's contents, not the folder itself. Also confirm that you burned a Daisy file, not an MP3 or PDF file.
  • Victor Reader reports "Media Error 1" - according to the Victor Reader manual, this is an "Error reading sector on disc." Recommendation: burn the disc again. If you have get the same error with subsequent discs, please tell us what brand of CD you're using.

Did we miss something? Please let us know if you find any errors in these instructions, have suggestions for improvements, or have questions that aren’t answered here. You can also post your questions to our community forums.