Your Digital Music Studio

CD to Computer

To get tunes from your CDs onto your computer, you need to use what's called a ripper--a software program that copies the .wav file data byte by byte to your hard drive, adjusting file format as necessary. This is known as digital audio extraction or DAE. Any decent CD-burning package, such as Roxio's $100 Easy CD & DVD Creator 6 or Ahead Software's $100 Nero 6 will rip raw .wav files; file players, such as MusicMatch and RealOne Player will also handle the job. For ripping chores, Windows Media Player will only save in WMA format.

Raw .wav files run about 10MB per minute of stereo music, so make sure you have plenty of hard drive space before you start. Also, some early CD-ROM drives don't support the raw-read protocol required for DAE--check your drive manual if in doubt. Our advice: Don't use a non-DAE drive's distortion-inducing analog outputs--get a new drive. And before you assume that your ripped files are free from audible defects, listen to them. Some optical drives and software don't rip reliably at high speed, so drop your rip speed down to 4X or so if you hear crackles or other artifacts in your ripped files.

Once you've ripped your tracks, they're ready to burn to CD-R/RW, be compressed, or be transferred to an audio file player (you can also rip and save directly to MP3 or another compressed format).If you're burning, CD-R is by far the most compatible media, but a growing number of players will play CD-RW discs, which can be reused when you grow tired of your mix. Any CD-burning package on the market and a large number of file players, including Windows Media Player and Apple iTunes, will burn audio CDs. For comprehensive step-by-step instructions on ripping and burning, check out "How to Burn Without Getting Singed."