Here, we explain

what Blu-ray is

and why it is superior to DVDs. If you know why DVDs are better than CDs, then you're pretty much on the right track.

Blu-ray discs

can

store much more data

than DVDs but require special drives to use. This makes Blu-ray discs ideal for housing

HD video

like movies and is the reason

Blu-ray drives

are becoming commonplace.

It's very important to

back up your photos

periodically to avoid the heartache of losing precious memories. Thankfully, Picasa makes it easy for you with a variety of

backup options

. We'll show you how to

create backup photo albums

using Picasa

in this episode.

In this episode, we'll show you how you can

export your GarageBand projects

to various formats. We'll show you how to

export to iTunes and iDVD

and how to

burn your projects to disc

. There a variety of

exporting options available in GarageBand

, so you should be able to find one that's right for you.

In this episode, we show you how to

install an optical drive

into your computer. Whether you're installing a

reader or a writer

, whether it plays

CDs, DVDs or Blu-ray

discs, the installation process is the same. It's also quite a bit similar to the way we showed you how to install a hard drive in the last episode and is an important part of

building your own computer

.

In working with computers you're bound to hear unusual terms like URL, SMTP, FTP, buffer and many more. You may have heard of "ripping" as well. Despite the sound of the word "ripping" actually refers to copying data. Here's a

definition of ripping in computer terms.

Some

terms used in computers and computing

are a little bit strange. Some of them, like POP and FTP, are acronyms that stand for something. Then there are terms like "ripping" or "burning," which sound like ways to destroy data. Far from it. Here's a tech

definition of "burning."

You may have bought a lot of music online. You may now want to play it in your car or your camper. Well, it's easy to do! Simply "burn" the music onto a CD. We'll show you how to

record a mixed CD with Windows Media Player

. You can

burn an MP3 disc

to play in a compatible stereo or

burn an audio CD

that will play in any CD player.

You've got a bunch of CDs, but you'd like to

have the music on your computer

and mix it up a little. So, all you need to do is "rip" the music from the CD and save it to your computer's hard drive.

When you have lots of media getting it all organized can sometimes be a problem, but not with Winamp Media PLayer. It gives you a variety of ways to sort, organize, and categorize your media so you can find what you're looking for.

When you put a CD or DVD into the appropriate drive on your computer and then close the drawer, Windows will often immediately launch an application associated with that disc: An installation program if it's an install disc, or your CD player, if it's an audio CD, for example. This can be frustrating if the task that is autorun isn't what you wanted to do. There are ways to prevent your system from bringing up the autorun dialogue when you insert a disc.

CDs are so 1990. Miss Download, AKA Cheryl Poirier, has a simple tool that makes it easy to get your music off the polycarbonate discs that currently hold it and on to your portable audio player. It's called FreeRip and, as the name implies, it's a completely free audio ripper. It can rip to and convert common audio formats like MP3, WMA, WAV and even Vorbis.

Andy and Sean show you how to wipe the hard drive clean and install a fresh copy of Windows.

Lab Rats grab a bag of marshmallows and fire up their blow torch and show you how optical discs work. Includes coverage of CDs, DVDs and blu-ray and HD DVD.