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With the right software, copying CDs to mp3 files is very simple. Some popular programs like Winamp can do it, but only if you buy their extended version; the free version does not include the capability. However, there are plenty of free converters online now, so there is no need to buy a program. Whatever program you end up finding, make sure it uses the LAME encoder, as this will result in high quality files while being efficient about the time needed to encode and the size of the files produced.

I recommend dbPowerAMP (http://www.dbpoweramp.com) for a number of reasons:

-It is clean and simple to use.
-It supports both the LAME and the Blade encoders.
-It can convert among many types of files, including CD files, mp3s, .wav, .ogg, .aac, etc.
-It integrates well with Windows, adding options to the right-click menus for supported file types to automatically send those files to the program for conversion.
-It is a free program with no restrictions on how many files or what quality of files it can produce.

Mac or Linux users will have to use a different program. For Macs, there is an open source program using the LAME encoder, Drop MP3 (http://philippe.laval.free.fr /DropMP3/index_en.php). The other encoder, Blade, is open source and can be compiled on any system, although the only graphical front ends are for Windows or Linux. For more information, take a look at http://www.mp3-converter.com/e ncoders/bladeenc.htm or search for BladeEnc. For Linux, there is also NotLAME (http://users.rsise.anu.edu.au /~conrad/not_lame/)

Converting a CD to mp3s using dbPowerAMP is quite simple. You can either manually open the dbPowerAMP Audio CD Input program, or simply insert an audio CD into your CD drive, and if dbPowerAMP is installed correctly, it should automatically open the input program. Update the Artist, Album, Genre, Year, and Comment boxes if necessary, check the tracks that you wish to rip, and press the Rip button. For more options such as quality level and ripping location, right click the Rip button or press the down arrow next to it and choose Rip with Options. A file quality of at least 128 kbps is recommended, and 160 or 256 is better (but produces slightly larger file sizes). The program can rip each CD to a separate folder labeled with the artist or CD title if desired, and can automatically label the filenames with track number and track title as well.

Learn more about this author, Reiko Yukawa.
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