Can a CD be downloaded onto an iPad Tablet?

Still need to be more specific. Any PDF document can easily be moved to iCloud and then read by the iPad by several programs, for example, but Excel and Word typically require another program like QuickOffice or Documents to Go.

I do a lot of technical manuals in PDF to mine. I purchased PDFReader Pro, PDF Expert, Adobe Reader, GoodReader, and Evernote. Of those, I like PDFReader Pro the most for pure PDF. Evernote is an awesome program too, as it syncs across platforms and devices and does a lot more than just PDFs.

Use Google Drive and QuickOffice. Google Drive puts a folder in your My Documents. Drag the files into the folder and they will sync onto the iPad. QuickOffice lets you view and edit Word, Excel,PowerPoint, and Text files. It's easy and it works.

If the docs are Word, .Xls, .pdf, and others they can all be read with the appropriate apps. Adobe makes a .pdf reader, iBooks reads them also. I have another app that allows creation and read of Word and .xlf files. I'm sure there's more but these are what I use all the time.

I usually email files I want resident on the iPad

Putting documents on an Ipad/Ipod is a real pain in the ... well, you know what I mean. You can download an app from ITunes called usb disk and once loaded, you can create folders on the Ipad and then drag and drop files into them. This is a bit tedious but is good if you need a document and are not on the internet. However, I am now using Dropbox on all my devices. You get 2 gigs free storage and anything you put on one device will automatically be put on all your devices that have dropbox loaded on them. It is way faster than the drag and drop routine. You can get it here https://www.dropbox.com/
And you can still have the usb disk app as a backup.

I use the FilesPro viewing app on my iPad and iPod Touch to store and read all sorts of documents - Word, text, PDF, JPG, spreadsheets, topo maps. It's handled everything I've asked of it.

Put your docs onto your PC (or insert the CD into the PC so you can see it as another hard drive), then open iTunes with your iPad plugged in. On the Apps page of the iTunes-iPad synch screens, the bottom of the page shows the apps you can move items into. Choose FilesPro, Add (by browsing your PC's files through the Add button on the iTunes screen), and the files go onto your iPad when you click Apply.

Practice with the free version of the Files app and a couple of documents to see if you like the setup before you buy the FilesPro version or add a whole bunch of files.

This sounds more complicated than it is. Try it. Use the help screens (link on the app's page in iTunes).

As others have said, there are many other ways to do this.

One possible solution is the Calibre e-book management software for Mac or PC. It's free and allows you to import text, PDF, RTF and many other format files. They can be converted to other formats and sent to e-book reader type devices. The Apple devices (iPod, iPad, etc) are accessed via iTunes. For other devices, like the Kindle, the files are transmitted via e-mail directly to the reader.

It's even possible to convert other e-book reader formats so one can shave files between different types of e-readers. It doesn't handle protected files though, but there are other utilities that can unlock these type files.

If it can't import and convert Microsoft Word files then you'll need to save them in RTF or PDF format from within Word, then import the RTF or PDF version of the file.

The documents can be copied to the iPad but depending upon which application was used to create them they may or may not be able to be viewed/edited on the iPad. Are they MS Word docs or what? You will need to have an app on the iPad that can open the documents.

I haven't used iTunes in years but when I had an iPod when they first came out iTunes was used to put any kind of content on the iPod so my guess would be that iTunes should handle that. Here's a link to how to do it: Transfer files between your computer and mobile apps

strollin wrote:
What kind of CD? An audio CD, a CD with some MAC/Windows/iOS software, a CD with documents or what?

OK, should have been more specific. My PC runs Windows XP3. The CD contains documents. No music or videos or anything like that. Will iTunes work with that? Thanks (never thought of using iTunes)....

mr. ed wrote:
Hi, folks. Just wondering if it's possible. I'm guessing that can be accomplished by first downloading the CD into a PC and then attaching the iPad to a USB port on the PC. Am I on the right track? Thanks....

Using iTunes I have moved all my music CDs to iPhone and iPad. I must admit that's not a not of them just all of them.

No. You need to download it to the PC, then upload it to Itunes, then it will be available to your ipad via itunes