Whether you have one CD you love or a whole library you want to convert, you'll want the added flexibility that comes from having you songs in MP3 format as well as in their original CD format. Whether you call the process of converting the songs on your CD into MP3 files is called "ripping," "copying," "importing," or "recording," it's easier than you might think. What's more, it's entirely legal unless you try to circumvent copy-protection on those CDs that employ such tactics, or sell the songs you copy, or try to share them with everyone over the Internet.

All you need is an audio or music CD, a PC with a CD drive, a connection to the Internet, and the right software, such as iTunes or MusicMatch Jukebox. Even the free versions of these software packages will analyze any CD you put in the drive and with the help of a massive online database of CD information, recognize your CD and fetch a variety of information on your particular CD, such as album name, artist(s), track titles, genre, and much more. Then, when you copy the songs from the CD to your hard disk in .MP3 format, each song file will not only be named properly with the artist and song title, but will also contain what are called “tags” with a variety of information about the song that enables you to use the software you choose to quickly and easily identify, sort, filter, and select songs.

So which software is best, or more appropriately phrased, which software is best for you? Since the software you’ll use to copy songs from CD will also be the software you use to play those songs whenever you choose and organize them into playlists and even burn the playlists to new CDs, you’ll want to choose wisely. Unfortunately, there is no slam-dunk winner in the media player contest. As you might expect, a lot depends on personal perference. My personal favorite is MusicMatch Jukebox, because I like its interface and extensive feature set and I’ve already invested in a lifetime of free upgrades. However, when Apple gave me an iPod to try out for an article I was writing for Smart Computing, I found that using an iPod pretty much necessitates the use of iTunes, and I found a lot to like about iTunes as well. I’m not a big fan of Windows Media Player - at least not any version through 10 so far. Maybe by my lucky number 12th try, they’ll get it right, but I suspect they’re too married to the music and movie industries and the idea of imbedded digital rights management (which is a fancy way of saying burdensome copy protection and usage restrictions) to ever make Media Player worth using much except as a default, backup player when your favorite’s not available. There are many other software packages that do the same things these do and more, but for the most part, you should be fine with either MusicMatch Jukebox or iTunes.

So for me, the software decision boils down to this: if you have an iPod or a Mac or you just want one of the best free software packages available for Windows, use iTunes, which can be downloaded (along with QuickTime) from Apple's web site. In fact, if you’re an average PC user, iTunes and QuickTime will serve you well. You’ll just need to be aware of the limitations on any songs you acquire that have digital rights management imbedded, such as tunes you purchase from the iTunes Store – and describing those could take another few pages I don’t have if I want to keep this guide brief. If you want the most full-featured player available, then you’ll want to spring for the Plus version of MusicMatch Jukebox, available at MusicMatch's web site. If you pride yourself on avoiding the problems encountered by those who have the temerity to defy Microsoft, or you don't want to download and install the better free software from Apple or MusicMatch, then you’ll probably want to just go with Windows Media Player. In this Guide, however, I'll be covering how to create MP3 files from your audio CDs using iTunes and/or MusicMatch Jukebox.

After you’ve made the software decision, download and install the software you select from the referenced web sites and then follow the instructions below for your chosen software.

How 2 Copy Songs Using iTunes

iTunes calls this process of copying songs from a CD “importing.” By default, copied (“Imported”) songs are stored to your hard disk in Apple’s format, which is called “AAC,” so you’ll want to first change the default format and a few other settings.

Adjust Your Preferences

After you’ve got iTunes running, select Edit from the top menu and then Preferences, or alternatively, just hold down the Ctrl key and press the comma key. This brings up the iTunes Preferences dialog. Click on the Advanced Tab, and then the Importing Tab. Here’s where you tell iTunes how you would like it to behave in regards to copying songs from CDs.

On CD Insert

If you have a multiple CDs that you’d like to copy, one after the other, then for the “On CD Insert” pulldown, select “Import Songs and Eject.” This will enable you to simply insert a CD, wait while it copies your songs to CD, and it will eject your CD after it’s finished “importing” that particular CD. Then repeat. After you finish copying from your CDs, you should change back to “Show Songs” for this setting.

Import Using

Next, on the “Import Using” pull-down, select “MP3 Encoder.” MP3 is the original high-quality music format, and very few of us can hear any difference between MP3 files or other encoding formats, so don’t heed the siren song of “new and improved” music formats. For the most part, the “new and improved” means the format has added digital rights management that does nothing for you but restrict the ways you can use the file. Most people simply cannot hear the difference between an MP3 file and any other available music file format.

Setting

Even an MP3 encoded at 128 kbps will sound great, so unless you are an audiophile with very discerning ears, I recommend you simply save your songs in MP3 format encoded at 128 kpbs. If you’re not the least bit concerned about disk space, go ahead and encode your MP3 files at 192 kbps.

Play Songs While Importing

Uncheck this unless you want to listen to each CD while the songs are being copied to your hard disk.

Create filenames with track number

Uncheck this unless you want the Track number from the CD to be in the filename. For me, the name of the song and the artist are enough (separated by a dash).

User error correction when reading Audio CDs

It’s safer to leave this checked. If you don’t, and you copy a song from a CD that’s dirty and causing skips or pops, then you’ll end up with a digital song in your collection that’s of poor quality and skips or pops.

Once you have set everything above to match your preferences, click OK to save them.

Now for the actual copying.

Copy the CD

1. Be sure you’re connected to the Internet.
2. Insert an audio CD into a CD drive. iTunes will go to the Internet and identify the CD if it can, and then list various information about each song, such as Track, Name (title), Time (length), Artist, Album, and Genre. If it doesn’t find the CD in its database, it will enter generic information (Track 1, Track 2, etc.), and you can enter the details yourself. You can then even submit the information to the database if it’s a commercial CD.
3. If there are any songs you don’t want to copy, just uncheck the box to the left of the song name.
4. The tracks should be in numerical order to avoid starting any song with a short bit of silence. Just be sure that there’s an upward-pointing arrow in the bar immediately above the track numbers and click on them if not.
5. Click on the Import CD icon in the upper right-hand corner.
6. The copying will start and progress will be indicated by checkmarks next to the track names and a progress bar in the iTunes (apple) window. When completed, a small tone will sound to indicate that iTunes has automatically added the songs to your library and stored the songs in the default folder. If you want to know where that is to copy the songs elsewhere, the folder is indicated under Edit / Preferences on the General tab – which you can change if you desire by clicking on the Change button next to the filename.

Congratulations! You’ve just copied your CD to your computer using iTunes.

How 2 Copy Songs Using MusicMatch Jukebox

MusicMatch Jukebox calls this process of copying songs from a CD “recording,” but the command to do it is quite simply “Copy from CD.” By default, copied (“recorded”) songs are stored to your hard disk in .mp3 format, so you don’t really need to adjust the settings before copying your CD, but you can if you wish.

Adjust Your Settings

After you’ve got Jukebox running, select Options from the top menu and then Settings. This brings up the Jukebox Settings dialog. Click on the Recorder Tab. Here’s where you tell Jukebox how you would like it to behave in regards to copying songs from CDs.

Recording Quality

On the “Recording Format” pull-down, select “MP3.” MP3 is the original high-quality music format, and very few of us can hear any difference between MP3 files or other encoding formats, so don’t heed the siren song of “new and improved” music formats. For the most part, the “new and improved” means the format has added digital rights management that does nothing for you but restrict the ways you can use the file. Most people simply cannot hear the difference between an MP3 file and any other available music file format.

An MP3 encoded at CD Quality (128 kbps) will sound great, so unless you are an audiophile with very discerning ears, I recommend you simply save your songs in CD Quality MP3 format encoded at 128 kpbs. If you’re not the least bit concerned about disk space or compatibility with other players, go ahead and encode your MP3 files at 192 kbps or higher. Using Variable Bit Rate (VBR) is unnecessary – don’t do it unless you know exactly why you should do it.

Tracks Directory

If you would like to change where your music is stored, or the way your songs are named, then click on the Tracks Directory button. Most people store their songs in a folder with subfolders for each artist, and then another subfolder for each album by that artist containing the songs for that album. This is accomplished by clicking on the Artist and Album checkboxes under the “Make Sub-Path Using” section of the “Tracks Directory” dialog. Most song files are named with the artist and track name, separated by a dash. This is accomplished by clicking on the Artist and Track Name checkboxes under the “Name Track File using” section, and un-checking the Track Number and Album checkboxes. As you make changes, Jukebox displays an helpful Sample Path just above the OK button that reflects the entire path based on your current settings. Very helpful.

Advanced

When the people at MusicMatch say “Advanced,” they mean it. Just leave this button alone and take the defaults unless you want to tell Jukebox NOT to eject the CD or play a sound when done copying.

Delayed Record

This can be safely ignored as well unless you would like Jukebox to do the copying at some time other than when you put in the CD.

Add to Playlist Window

Check this if you would like whatever songs you copy to be (you guessed it) added to the Playlist window.

Prepare Tracks for Volume Leveling

Although it takes longer, it’s usually a good idea to check this. Why? So your songs will play back at consistent levels of volume and dynamic variation from one song to the next is minimized. That’s good because one song on your playlist won’t be hard to hear while the next one blasts you out and hurts your eardrums.

Make Track Clips

Just leave this unchecked. It’s for making short “clips” of your songs instead of copying the entire song. Definitely a case of trying to be responsive to customer requests, no matter how obscure.Once you have set everything above to match your preferences, click OK to save them.

Now for the actual copying.

Copy the CD

1. Be sure you’re connected to the Internet.
2. Insert an audio CD into a CD drive. Jukebox will go to the Internet and identify the CD if it can, and then list various information about each song, such as Track, Name (title), Time (length), Artist, Album, and Genre. If it doesn’t find the CD in its database, it will enter generic information (Track 1, Track 2, etc.), and you can enter the details yourself. You can then even submit the information to the database if it’s a commercial CD.
3. Click on the Copy to CD button on the left lower part of the main Jukebox screen. A Recorder window will open listing the songs on the CD.
4. If there are any songs you don’t want to copy, just uncheck the box to the left of the song name.
5. Click on the Start Copy button towards the top of the Recorder window.
6. The copying will start and progress will be indicated by progress bars to the right of the song title in the Recorder window. When completed, a small tone will sound and the CD will eject to indicate that Jukebox has automatically added the songs to your library and stored the songs in the default folder.

Congratulations! You’ve just copied your CD to your computer using MusicMatch Jukebox by Yahoo!

What To Do With Your Songs

Now that you’ve copied your songs to your hard disk, you have musical flexibility like you’ve never had before. Here is just a small list of what you can do with your new songs now that they’re digital:

• Create playlists of songs so you can play songs in any order your choose right from your computer through the stereo speakers attached to your PC.
• Burn your own playlists (of 18 to 21 songs) to audio CDs that will play in other devices that play CDs, such as auto CD players, home stereo system CD or DVD players, clock radio CD players, and portable CD players.
• Transfer songs to MP3 players such as the iPod for portable playback.
• Copy your song files to a Media Center PC for additional flexibility, such as watching dazzling beat-sensitive light shows on a big screen TV while the music plays, or watching computerized dancers dance to your music.
• Keep all of the family’s music and CDs backed up or available for listening on any PC on a home network.
• Use the songs in your own non-commercial creations such as putting your photos and/or videos to music using programs such as muvee autoProducer – which will also burn the music videos or slide shows it creates to DVD or Video CD.  See the Guide to Sharing Your Digital Pictures and/or Video by DVD or iPod for additional information on this great way to use your newly ripped MP3 files.

So now you know how easy it really is, there’s nothing stopping you from having a new love affair with the music of your youth!  Enjoy.