Join the MP3 craze by converting your CD collection to the Web's favorite format.

Today Chris shows you how to archive a CD collection to the MP3 file format. Converting or ripping audio CD tracks into MP3s is a hassle-free process if you have the right tools for the job. So, what are the right tools?

Get the software

To convert audio CDs you're going to need what's called a ripper. The term "ripper" applies to a program that rips or encodes .cda audio tracks from a CD and turns them into MP3s. During this process a ripper will compress the original audio track to one-tenth its file size.

Start by downloading and installing the best ripper/player/burner out there. It's called Musicmatch Jukebox, and it's free. Alternative rippers are available if you'd like to try a different program, such as CDex. Just do a search on Hotfiles.com or Download.com for the term "ripper" and you'll find heaps of them.

Think about your collection

After installing Musicmatch, you're going to need to make three decisions:

  1. What track-naming convention will you use?

    The program will let you select up to seven different fields to be included with every CD file you encode. Selecting only Artist, Album, Track Number, and Track Title should give you enough information to get your collection going. If you have the time later, you can add additional tags such as Tempo, Lyrics, Mood, and Cover Art to individual tracks or entire albums.

    All of these track characteristics are referred to as an MP3's ID3 tag. Additionally, they're quite a few ID3-tag editors readily available.

    To modify the order of these track fields in Musicmatch, single-click Options and then Settings, and then select the Music Library tab.

  2. What bitrate will you encode files in?

    Bitrate is the average number of bits one second of audio data will consume and has a direct relationship to the quality of an MP3. For near-CD quality, the bitrate need only be 96 Kbps. However, for CD quality, encode all CDs at 128 Kbps or 160 Kbps.

    As the Kbps number increases, expect your MP3's file size to increase as well. This may seem like a trivial point, but as your MP3 collection grows larger, available hard-drive storage space grows smaller.

    To change the bitrate settings in Musicmatch, single-click Options, mouse over Recorder, and then select Settings. Choose the bitrate that's appropriate for you. If you have the hard-drive space, leave it at 128 Kbps.

  3. Where will you place the songs after they've been ripped?

    The default directory that Musicmatch uses to place ripped MP3s is MyDocuments\MyMusic\. This is important to remember because you need to know where your songs will be if you want to access them later.

    Not knowing where files are stored often frustrates new Musicmatch users because they have no idea how to play songs after they've been ripped. But now you do.

    To modify where MP3s are placed after they're ripped in Musicmatch, single-click Options, mouse over Recorder, and then select Settings. Select the Songs Directory button and point it to the folder where you'd like MP3s to be placed.


Check your CD-ROM

Musicmatch will automatically check your hard drive to see if it's capable of digital-audio extraction. If it's a drive you got in the last year or so, chances are it is.

If your CD drive doesn't handle digital audio extraction, you can still rip songs using it, but the process will take as long as it takes to play the songs.

Start ripping

Here are some instructions on how to rip CDs using Musicmatch:

  1. Open Musicmatch.
  2. Insert a CD into your CD-ROM.
  3. If you're not connected to the Internet, connect now. The program will automatically recognize that an audio CD is inserted and initiate the Recorder to begin searching the online CDDB (CD database). If it finds a match for your CD, all the artist and album information will be filled for you. You may need to type in the track listings if it doesn't return a match.
  4. After the CDDB returns a match or when you've completed inputting artist and album names and all the track titles, hit the record button on the recorder.
  5. Depending on the speed of your PC, you should have the CD fully ripped in less than 10 minutes.