How do you convert a cd track to an mp3

[shervinj]

Hey guys this is a real baisc question. How do I rip a cd track to a mp3. Is there free software to do this. Does winamp do this? Thanks for your help.

 

[Workin']

CDEX is free and includes everything you need. It also includes the best-quality mp3 encoder that you can get.

 

[joeyjojoe]

yes winamp will do it. in the preferences you need to set the output to something like "diskwriter" ... basically that will convert for you. i don't recommend it though cause it isn't very good. i use audiocatalyst or audiograbber which i think you can download a trial for or purchase for very little money.

 

[JW310]

www.r3mix.net has all the instructions you'll need for getting great quality MP3s ripped from your CDs. The site includes links to the software you're going to need - much of which is freeware - as well as all the instructions to follow to get basic use out of the software.

My personal favorite software for ripping is Exact Audio Copy to rip the tracks to WAV format and then to use the Lame encoder to convert the WAV files to MP3 files.

JW

 

[zigCorsair]

i use www.musicmatch.com. they've been around for awhile, and customizable file names.

winamp only rips into 56kbps, instead of 128/160 - at least that's what i can tell....

 

[Timothy]

Exact Audio Copy definately. Not the fastest, but the rips are always perfect. Located here.

I've been using LAME for the conversion to MP3. Windows binaries can be gotten here.

 

[sgopal2]

I agree with using Exact Audio Copy/LAME as well.

EAC/Lame produces a great quality ripped MP3 file. Other rippers don't have as good quality on the rips.

The only bad part about EAC is that it takes a while to rip an entire CD. The last time I tried, it took about15-20 mins on my machine to rip an entire CD (I have an Athlon XP1700+ which is pretty fargin' fast too).

 

[Menacer]

I also agree with the EAC/LAME combination along with the --r3mix switch in LAME. You'll get the highest quality rips with a VERY simple package.

Get EAC here: http://www.exactaudiocopy.de/eac6.html

Get LAME here: http://www.hot.ee/smpman/mp3/

Learn how to set up EAC here: http://www.ping.be/satcp/eac00.htm

And once you have EAC set up, go to the EAC menu->Compression Options->External Compression->Additional Command line and add "--r3mix" without the quotes. Also make sure your program in there is set to LAME.

Thumbs up to monk3u for providing me with this info.