Extract (Rip) Audio Files from an Audio CD

Quite often, we end up wanting to copy our favorite songs from a CD to a computer, probably as MP3 files so that we can play them on a computer or an MP3 player. The process is very simple, but we just need some basic knowledge of the audio tracks and MP3 files. For more information on the differences between an Audio CD and Mp3 CD, see this article.

Some people call this process as simply "extracting" the audio files, while others call it "ripping". The same idea is to copy those music tracks from an audio CD to a computer. Most often, the MP3 format becomes the best option for those music files. The instructions below will help you create either MP3 files or WAV files.

The following sample instructions are based on a CD-copy software called Free Easy CD/DVD Burner v1.2. This is a free burning tool with advertising supported, but no spyware or adware. You can download this program from SnapFiles, or v4.2 here

There are many different programs can do audio ripping. Some of them are freeware. You can lookup the internet for different software with the keywords "Audio Ripping". This instruction is only a guideline.

You don't need to have a CD/DVD burner to rip audio files from an Audio CD. A CD-ROM (read-only) will do it.

1. If you have not installed a burning program, download the tool above and install it. Make sure you reboot after the installation.
2. Insert the Audio CD that you wish to rip.
3. If Windows automatically starts a player software and is playing the CD, stop and exit the player.
4. Open the Free Easy CD DVD Burner program.
5. Click on the "Audio CD Grabber" button on the top (1). The available tracks from the CD will show up under Audio Tracks box (2).
   
   
6. By default, all the tracks are selected for ripping. If you wish to rip only some certain tracks from the disc, click to remove the checkbox on the tracks that you want to skip.
   
   
7. Click "Ripper configuration" to determine the destination folder you want to save the files to.
   
   
8. The "Ripper configuration" window displays, the default destination folder is shown under "Output Path". If you wish to change this path, click on the browse button and change it. Once you're done, click "OK" to return.
   
   
9. If you wish to change the MP3 format settings (i.e. Bitrate, channel, etc...), you can click on the link "MP3 format configuration".
   
10. Once you're ready to rip, click "Rip now in MP3" if you want the files created as MP3, or click "Rip now in WAV" if you want the files created as WAV. Make sure you have enough hard drive space with the WAV option since the WAV files are big.
    
    
11. The program starts to rip the tracks one-by-one. When it's done, it will display a complete message.