Reader Steven Lange loves his fresh MacBook Air except for one lilliputian thing . He publish :

I just purchased a MacBook Air and really like it , but I still need to occasionally use videodisk for installing software and watching flick . What options do I have ?

The easiest option is to merely purchase an external USB DVD driving force . Apple makes such a affair in the form of its $ 79USB SuperDrive . Just jacklight it into your MacBook ’s USB port and stuff your disk into it as needed . With it you may play DVD moving-picture show , play and pull CDs with iTunes , and install package if it ’s compatible with your Mac .

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Of course Apple ’s is n’t the only solution . Go to Amazon and search forExternal USB DVD Driveand you ’ll find several external drives that are compatible with your Mac ( and most costing quite a bit less than Apple ’s crusade ) .

If you have memory access to another Mac that does have a media drive , your options blow up a bit . In such a situation you could use the power of DVD or compact disc Sharing if you want to put in software ( other than the Mac OS ) or copy files from a magnetic disk . It works like this :

To begin , your two Macs must be on the same local internet . Now , on the Mac that has the media ride ( ie.notyour MacBook Air ) , launch System Preferences , select Sharing , and in the partake in window turn on the videodisk or CD share-out option . By default the Ask Me Before leave Others To Use My DVD Drive option is enabled . Unless you ’re concerned about others on the connection accessing discs in your Mac ’s media drive , go forth this option on .

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On your MacBook Air , spread out a Finder windowpane and await for the Remote Disc entry under the Devices heading . pick out it and you ’ll see any Macs on your local meshing that have a media drive . Into the Mac with the medium driving , insert a data candela or DVD .

On your MacBook Air , within the Remote Disc windowpane , double - suction stop on the name of the Mac that has the media cause . You ’ll see an icon for the magnetic disc . bivalent - tap that ikon and you should be able-bodied to see the content of the platter . At this point you may bring with the disc just as if it was infix into the Mac you ’re now using — you may put in software program or copy files from the disc to your MacBook Air , for example . take note that because it ’s channelize data over a web rather than now from the disc to your thrust , it will in all likelihood take longer to move that information .

While this sharing choice means that you need n’t buy an additional hunk of hardware , it ’s also fairly limited . You ca n’t play DVD movies or audio cd , copy - protect magnetic disk ( secret plan platter , for example ) wo n’t work , and — as I suggest earlier — you ca n’t add the Mac OS from a Remote Disc . It ’s really there so that if you absolutely need to install software from a disc or copy information from one of these silver phonograph record , you may .

Any other alternative ? Sure . you may buy motion picture you do n’t already own from the iTunes Store or stream movies from Netflix if you have a streaming subscription . And if you have another Mac with a media cause , film and TV shows you own on videodisk can beripped with HandBrake .

If you have that other Mac with a mass medium drive you could produce a disc image and imitate it to your parkway - less Mac . To do that insert the record in the other Mac ’s media drive and launch Disk Utility ( detect in /Applications / Utilities ) . In Disk Utility ’s reference name select the disk . Choose File - > New - > Disk Image fromnameofdisc . In the sheet that appears prefer DVD / CD Master from the Image Format pop - up menu , None from the Encryption drink down - up menu , and fall into place Save .

Disk Utility will take some time creating the record image . Once the image has been created , simulate it to the MacBook Air over the internet , double - tap it to jump on it , and black market it as if it was the original disc .