Offline ISO

From Copyright for Librarians
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ISO files are images of complete CD-ROMs or DVDs compiled as one whole image file (*.iso). ISO images can be loaded into several different CD/DVD recording software packages to create CDs or DVDs.

Downloading the ISO

The ISO for the Copyright for Librarians course can be found here.

Writing the ISO to a CDROM

On a Apple OS X Computer

Apple OS X has a built-in application called Disk Utility that allows you to author ISO images with no extra software installed. The application is fairly easy to use. The ISO image can be written (or "burned") to a CD using the following steps.

  • Open Disk Utility (usually found in Applications -> Utilities folder).
  • From the top menubar, select Images -> Burn... (or Command-B from within Disk Utility).
  • Select the .iso image in the Select Image to Burn dialog that pops up.
  • Insert a blank disc. Click Burn.

On a Windows Computer

Unfortunately for windows there is no built-in CD-ROM authoring software. However, there are a number of programs that can help you burn ISO files in Windows. A majority of them are shareware, either time-limited or feature locked. There are a few freeware options available - performing a Google search for "freeware iso recorders" will help.

A popular freeware ISO recorder is ISORecorder. The application is also fairly easy to use. The ISO can be written (or "burned") to a CD using the following steps.

  • Right-click on a file with .iso extension and select Copy Image to CD.
  • Insert a blank disk.
  • Select Next in the CD Recording Wizard dialog that should have popped up after the first step.
  • Once recording is completed, select Finish to exit ISO Recorder.

Using the ISO

Once the ISO has been written to a CD-ROM you can insert it into any computer and view the course materials.

For a Apple OS X computer, open a Finder window and navigate to the CD-ROM. Double-click on the index.html file in the Finder window and the course materials should open in your default internet browser.

For a Windows computer, inserting the CD-ROM should trigger the autorun functionality and automatically open the course materials in your default internet browser. In the case that this does not happen, open an Explorer window and navigate to the CD-ROM. Double-click on the index.html file in the Explorer window and the course materials should open in your default internet browser.