Copying (Ripping) CD Tracks to Your PC

The next step in the digital audio revolution is learning how to copy tracks from your favorite CDs to your computer's hard disk. If you have a large enough hard disk, you can store an entire library of CDs or individual tracks and then choose from this library to burn your own custom CDs.

This process of copying files from a CD to your hard disk, in either MP3 or WMA format, is called ripping. Windows Media Player makes it easy to rip your favorite songs.

Set the Format and Quality Level

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When using the normal WMA format, a quality level of 128Kbps or or 160Kbps is typically a good choice.

Before you begin copying, you first have to tell WMP what format you want to use for your ripped files MP3 or WMA. (Remember, the MP3 option will be there only if you've purchased and installed the MP3 Creation Pack.) You also have to choose the quality level for recording.

Here's how you set the format and quality:

1.	Select Tools, Options.
2.	When the Options dialog box appears, click the Rip Music tab (shown in Figure 15.2). Figure 15.2. Before you copy a file, select which format and quality level you want to use.
3.	Pull down the Format list and select the file format you want. (Your choices include MP3, WMA, WMA Lossless, and WMA Variable Bit Rate.)
4.	Adjust the Audio Quality slider to select your desired bit rate. Move the slider to the left to create smaller files at lower quality; move the slider to the right to create larger files at better quality.
5.	Click OK when done.

Rip the Files

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Make sure you're connected to the Internet before you start ripping, so that WMP can download album and track details. (If you don't connect, you won't be able to encode track names or CD cover art.)

After your settings are set, it's time to start recording. (Technically, recording in a digital format is called encoding although everybody calls it ripping.)

Follow these steps:

1.	Insert the CD you want to rip into your PC's CD-ROM drive.
2.	In Windows Media Player, select the Rip tab to show the contents of the CD, a shown in Figure 15.3. Figure 15.3. Getting ready to copy selected album tracks just click the Rip Music button.
3.	Put a check mark by the tracks you want to copy.
4.	Click the Rip Music button.

WMP now begins to copy the tracks you selected, in the format you selected, and at the quality level you selected.

Unless you specify otherwise in the Options dialog box, the tracks are recorded into your My Music folder, into a subfolder for the artist, and within that in another subfolder for this particular CD. As you can see in Figure 15.4, the folder for the album displays the CD's cover graphics. (Assuming you connected to the Internet to download the cover art, that is.)

Figure 15.4. Your ripped files are stored in a subfolder for that particular CD.