CDs & DVDs (System Preferences)

The CDs & DVDs preference pane of System Preferences allows the user to specify what should happen when a CD or DVD is inserted.

When you insert...
There are options which will appear for each of the following situations. If your Mac does not support a particular function (e.g. DVD burning), that option will become unavailable.


 * When you insert a blank CD
 * When you insert a blank DVD
 * When you insert a music CD
 * When you insert a picture CD
 * When you insert a video DVD

To the right, corresponding pop-up menus appear.

Often, when optical media is inserted into a Mac, a dialog box will just appear asking the user what to do. This is the case if the option Ask what to do is selected in the settings in this preference pane.

By choosing a different setting, the user is actually telling the Mac what its default move is. However, choosing a default movement does not actually limit the user in any way. For example, a blank CD can be inserted on a Mac which has the "Open iTunes" option selected as the default move, and it will still be possible to drag and drop files onto the blank CD in the Finder.

Additionally, a default move an include opening any application or running an AppleScript. The settings also include an Ignore option, which tells the Mac not to do anything when blank media is inserted.