Each playlist can be saved as a CD in either the Red Book or CD24 format. In CD24 mode with Version 2.0 software, you have a choice: the audio can be rendered through the DSP engine, or you can use Utility #3 to make a Playlist Backup disc.

A Playlist Backup is a special kind of CD24 that saves the audio as original, un-rendered AIFF files, and separately saves all the Track DSP settings as a file that MasterLink can read. This is the method to use if you consider the Playlist a "work in progress". You use the Playlist Restore utility to put the material back on the hard disc just as it was.

The other way to save and restore files is to burn a CD in the usual way. In this case, the audio will be processed as it goes to the CD. Use CD MOVE (a feature of the TRACK MOVE key) to move all the processed tracks on the CD back to a playlist on the hard drive. This is the method to use if you don't anticipate any changes to fade times, EQ, compression, limiting, levels, etc.