To start, you must have a CD-R or CD-RW disk. Insert the disk into the computer's CD drive and close it. Next, click on the CD Writing icon on the desktop. This will launch the Roxio Creator Classic program.

You should see a window that says "Creator Classic" at the top left. Below that, under the heading "Common Projects", are the options Data Disc, Audio CD and MP3 Disc. Click on Data Disc to make a CD that stores computer files. Click on Audio CD to make a CD from music files (WAV, MP3, WMA or OGG) to play in a normal CD player or in a computer's CD-ROM drive. Click on MP3 Disc to make a CD which stores MP3 music files in a format which is appropriate for MP3-CD players.

Regardless of which option you choose, the basic method for creating CDs remains the same. The rightmost three-fourths of the screen contains two panels. The upper panel is a file browser. It is used to find the files which you want to put on CD and allows you to drag them to the lower panel. The lower panel contains a list of the files which will go on the CD. Dragging files to the lower panel adds them to the list.

When you choose a type of project, the Burn button on the upper-right corner of the lower panel will be greyed out and unclickable. Once you have dragged at least one file to the lower panel, the Burn button will turn red and can be clicked. Clicking this button will bring up a summary screen. Clicking the Burn button at the lower right corner of this summary screen will start the process of burning the CD. Note that this summary screen also contains a "Cancel" button in case you change your mind, and a "Details" button which allows you to change a few settings. Generally you will not need to change any settings.

Once Roxio has started burning the CD, do not click on anything in the Roxio window until it has finished burning the CD. Just let it finish the job. Also note that the CD may be ejected from the drive automatically when the burning process has finished.

There are many options available for each type of project. Generally these are not needed. If you want to know more about them, select "Creator Classic Help Center" from the "Help" menu.