Advertisement

How To

How to: rip audio CD to MP3

Elena Santos

Elena Santos

  • Updated:

This week I finally got a CD I ordered online a while ago, but funnily enough, when I arrived home I realized I don’t really have anything to play CD anymore – except for my computer. I stopped using audio CD a long time ago, switched to MP3 and never looked back. And now whenever I buy a CD, I immediately rip it to MP3. It’s a simple process that hardly takes ten minutes and makes my favorite music much easier to carry around and enjoy!

So, if someday you find yourself in the same situation, here’s how to rip audio CD to MP3. I’m using an open source ripping tool called CDex, which works great. All you need to do is insert the CD and wait for CDex to read it and display its contents on the interface.

How to: rip audio CD to MP3

If CDex doesn’t recognize the tracks, you can try to search an online music database for that info. CDex includes a couple of them, plus other ways to find the necessary details for your songs. If nothing of this works, you can always type everything.

How to: rip audio CD to MP3

Next, make sure the program’s configuration settings meet your criteria. The two most important areas, in my opinion, are Directories&Files and Encoders: the first one lets you define a pattern for automatic file naming, and select the folder where the newly created MP3 files will be saved; the second one enables you to choose an encoder and configure it according to the quality you want for your music files. Just remember that the higher bitrate, the bigger the file will be.

How to: rip audio CD to MP3

How to: rip audio CD to MP3

Once the configuration is finished, you’re ready to go. Go to the Convert menu and select “Extract CD tracks to compressed audio file”, or simply click the second button on the program’s right side bar, beginning by the top. The conversion will be done in a few minutes, and as the process runs smoothly in the background, you can move on to something else while CDex finishes the job.

How to: rip audio CD to MP3

Elena Santos

Elena Santos

Latest from Elena Santos

Editorial Guidelines