If you have a collection of old audio CDs lying around and collecting dust, then it is never too late to digitize it before they get damaged and stop playing altogether. Digitizing the audio CD is also called ripping and it means that you save them audio tracks from the CD on your computer’s hard drive in form of audio files. These audio files can have any file format such as WAV, MP3 or FLAC – any format that can be easily played on a standard Windows PC.
For ripping an audio CD there is no other software better than the good old Foobar2000. This software has been a favorite of music enthusiasts since the early 2000s and it is still being developed in 2021. Here is how we can use Foobar2000 to rip any audio CD:
Note: If you want to rip to other formats other than WAV files (MP3,FLAC, AAC, etc.), you will need to also download the Foobar Encoder Pack add-on located here: https://www.foobar2000.org/encoderpack Install it, then proceed.
Load the audio CD in your computer’s CD/DVD drive and wait for it to be recognized by Windows. In Foobar, select File → Open audio CD from the menubar.
Load the audio CD in your computer’s CD/DVD drive and wait for it to be recognized by Windows.
In Foobar, select File → Open audio CD from the menubar.
A small window will open up and when it is done detecting your audio CD, click on the Rip button in this window.
If you want to convert the audio CD into MP3 then click on Proceed to Converter Setup Dialog button. From here you can choose the output file format and start ripping.
If you want to rip the audio CD in WAV format, then choose default preset and click on the Rip now using one of the following presets.
After you have selected an output folder, it will start to rip your
audio CD. In a few minutes, you can check the output folder for all the
tracks.
As you can see ripping an audio CD using Foobar is very
straightforward. There are no complicated or confusing configurations.
However, it is not able to rip any DRM protected, locked or encrypted
content.
Foobar also does a great job splitting FLAC-CUE files. The encoder pack is all you need. Drag the CUE and FLAC files to the playlist, right click, and select Convert.
1: Select Files and Choose Output Format
Once you have added the files, they will appear in the Foobar2000
playlist. Select the files you wish to convert by clicking on them while
holding the Ctrl key (for multiple selections) or by clicking and
dragging to highlight a group of files.
Next, right-click on the selected files and select "Convert" > "..." from the context menu. A new window will open, allowing you to configure the conversion settings.
If you need to rip tracks from CDs on a regular basis, it makes sense to get the best free CD ripper with a plethora of tools and features that make the entire process simple and fast. Besides, such programs can help you archive older albums, singles and EPs.
A reliable CD rip program reads each segment of the disc several times and compares the results with the data provided by other users in order to eliminate all kinds of errors. Unfortunately, many options advertised as the best CD ripping software can’t reach those quality standards set in the industry.
Top 7 Free CD Rippers
FairStars - Rip audio from CD in a variety of formats
dbPowerAmp - Makes archiving and encoding music a breeze
Audiograbber - Nifty good CD ripper with line-in sampling
Though the programs are designed for the same task, there are particular differences between them. The quality of the ripped files is typically worse than the original, which happens because of the transformations that take place during reading and encoding. That’s why, you need the best CD ripping software to keep the final quality as close to the original CD as possible. This mainly refers to complete and accurate metadata encoded in a lossless format.
Which
is the best media player for Windows PC — If you’re looking for this
question’s answer, you’re at the right place. Apart from being a
feature-rich software, a media player also needs to be simple,
intuitive, and lightweight. If we take these factors into account,
players like VLC, GOM, Media Player Classic, etc. are recommended. But,
what about their features?
As there are tons of software available for Microsoft Windows
platform, choosing the right one for your computer isn’t an easy task.
Also, with the increasing number of newer media formats, not all free
media players are capable of running all popular file formats like MKV,
FLV, AVI, MP4, MOV, etc. That’s why very often people send us emails
asking the question “Which is the best media player for Windows?” This
has prompted me to prepare a list of the best free media players for
Windows operating system. You can also check our previous lists of top video players for Android and Linux.
Apart from being a free video media player, it should also be
lightweight to make sure that your multitasking doesn’t take a hit while
watching movies and TV shows. So, let’s take a look at different
options and help you make the best possible decision:
10 Best Media Players for Windows
1. VLC Media Player
VLC media player
Whenever we start any discussion of the best media players and how
great they are, the name VLC automatically comes at the top. But, why is
it so? What’s the reason behind its massive popularity? VLC Media
Player is a free and open-source media player that’s available for all
popular platforms. Created by the VideoLAN project, VLC Media Player is
known to support a vast number of audio and video compression methods
and file formats. Over the years, VLC has earned the reputation of being
the “play everything” video player. VLC has also inspired the
development of many other media players with the same focus.
VLC is one of the best PC media players due to its fast and simple
nature that doesn’t involve any painstaking steps. The software also
features different customization options that can help you improve your
viewing experience and change the look of the player. It’s also often
used a streaming media player. Being an open source media player, you
are free to examine its source code. This amazing Windows Media Player
alternative also receives frequent updates and has a large user
community. It runs on all Windows versions, from Windows 10 to Windows
XP SP3. From time-to-time, this free movie player keeps receiving new
features and updates. It’s my de-facto choice for fulfilling all media
playback needs. You can also check out our dedicated article on VLC tricks. Supported Platforms: Windows 10, Windows 8.1, Windows 7, Windows Vista, Windows XP – VLC Media Player website
2. PotPlayer
Pot Player in action
Competing with other video players like VLC, PotPlayer has managed to
earn a good reputation in the recent times. This multimedia software
for Windows platform has been developed by South Korean internet company
named Kakao. PotPlayer has tons of features and specialties that can
easily give VLC a run for its money. This recommended media player comes
with a wide range of customization options that allow you to make this
software fit for your needs. Using the techniques like CUDA, QuickSync,
and DXVA, PotPlayer is able to deliver maximum performance and a
lightweight experience. That’s why PotPlayer is the second best media
player on the list.
Compared to VLC, PotPlayer might be less popular but it supports even
more file types. It goes without saying that it’s a great player for
MP4/FLV/AVI/MKV files, which are very common. You have the option to
make a choice between sound cards, bookmark your favorite scenes and
preview them, etc. You also get filters for brightness, contrast, hue,
noise reduction, etc. It also comes with lots of built-in keyboard
shortcuts and hotkeys. But, what makes VLC more popular than PotPlayer?
Well, for most of the users, the long list of features and settings
might be just too much. Also, PotPlayer is limited to Windows. Overall,
PotPlayer is one of best media players around if you want to ditch VLC
Media Player. Supported Platforms: Windows 10, Windows 8.1, Windows 7, Windows Vista, Windows XP – PotPlayer website
3. KMPlayer
KM Player
KMPlayer is another great and free Windows 10 media player that
possesses the ability to play almost all mainstream video and audio
files. As it has an inbuilt codec for Windows 10, the users don’t need
to look for any different codec. To increase its compatibility even
further, you can add external codecs. With the support for 3D, 4K, UHD
support, the users can enjoy high definition videos on your devices.
KMPlayer is also known for its wide range of support for formats. The
users have lots of choices when it comes to audio and video effects
which makes sure that you don’t feed the dearth of any feature or
support. You can choose the parts of videos as favorites, make them
repeat, remap the keys for remote interface, etc. You also get the
feature of editing subtitles right inside the player. First released in
2002, KMPlayer free media player was acquired by a Korean streaming
company Pandora TV in 2007. Supported Platforms: Windows 10, Windows 8.1, Windows 7, Windows Vista, Windows XP – KMPlayer website
4. Media Player Classic – Home Cinema
MPC-HC for Windows
Just like its name signifies, Media Player Classic is a classic media
player that was bound to be featured on our list of best media players.
Build after the halted development of the original Media Player
Classic, the Home Cinema version is an effort made by the community of
its fans. Together, the developers have improved the older version and
made a speedy and lightweight software. The other fork of the original
Media Player Classic is the Black Edition. If we compare both of them,
Home Cinema ranks better and keeps improving its feature set to rank
among the best media players.
Talking about all the fancy features, just like other software on
this list, Media Player Classic doesn’t come loaded. But, that doesn’t
mean that it’s going to disappoint you. This free multimedia player can
be used even on your old computer without any hassle. Media Player
Classic is a great Windows 10 Media Player alternative and it also
features a DVD player software on Windows 10, subtitle download option,
Skype integration, etc. Supported Platforms: Windows 10, Windows 8.1, Windows 7, Windows Vista, Windows XP – MPC-HC website
5. ACG Player
ACG player for Windows 10
If you’re looking for a UWP media player app for Windows 10 that’s
clean looking, it’s time to stop your search becauase ACG Player could
be your final choice. It’s a lightweight media player that has all the
essential features like audio and video effects, music visualizer, art
font subtitle, gesture control, background music. etc. ACG Player
supports most media codecs out-of-the-box and follows no-nonsense
policy. It also supports playback from external devices, files, and
discs. An even more lightweight version of ACG Player is available in
the form of Ax-Lite, which is its faster version without some features.
Do give it a try for its clean and zippy interface. Supported Platforms: Windows 10 – ACG Player website
6. GOM Media Player
GOM Player
GOM Player, or Gretech Online Movie Player, is a completely free
Windows media player alternative that comes with inbuilt support for the
most popular video and audio formats. That means it can play all the
most popular video formats like AVI, MKV, MP4, FLV, MOV, etc. Apart from
the basic functionalities that come loaded with other popular PC media
players, GOM Player comes with lots of advanced features like A-B
repeat, Media Player Capture, speed control, audio and video effects,
screen capture, etc. It also gives you the choice to change skins and
make the whole look of GOM Player highly customized.
Using GOM’s own library, you can download lots of subtitles and enjoy
movies and TV shows in your preferred language. You can also link this
awesome media player for PCs with the vast database of
OpenSubtitles.org. It could be possible that this media player software
might not support some uncommon types. For that scenarios, GOM Player’s
Codec Finder service will let you search for the missing codec. GOM
Player for Windows supports a wide range of operating systems, ranging
from Windows 10 to Windows XP SP3. Supported Platforms: Windows 10, Windows 8.1, Windows 7 – GOM Player website
7. DivX Player
DivX Player
The #7 entry on our list of best media players is DivX Player for
Windows. It calls itself the first of its kind media player that offers
free HEVC playback. With this popular and useful media player, you can
also enjoy UltraHD (4K) playback. It goes without saying that DivX
player is optimized for played video files in the most popular formats
like MP4, MKV, DivX, and AVI. DivX also acts as a streaming media player
that lets you stream music, video, and photos to any DLNA-compatible
device.
DivX player also comes with advanced features like Trick Play, which
lets you jump to your favorite scenes easily. With the support for
Chapter Points, you can simply play different scenes. Its smart media
library keeps track of the purchased as well as private video content.
The support for multiple audio means that you can switch among different
soundtracks without hassle. With its Resume Play feature, you can
simply jump to the point where you left off. Supported Platforms: Windows 10, Windows 8.1, Windows 7, Windows Vista, Windows XP – DivX Player website
8. Kodi
Kodi for Windows
Kodi, formerly called XBMC, is a free and open source media player.
It’s a highly customizable media player that you can use on your laptop
or desktop to get a media center experience. Just in case you’re missing
Windows Media Center on Windows 10, Kodi is a great alternative. This
contender for the top media player for streaming content is even better
if you’re using it with an external, larger display because of its
10-foot user interface. In the recent past, Kodi has been in the headlines due to pre-loaded Kodi boxes and add-ons that support piracy.
Kodi plays almost all popular video and music formats, podcasts, and
other digital media stored locally or on the internet. Initially, Kodi
was independently developed and called Xbox Media Center for the 1st gen
Xbox gaming console. This recommended media player also has plug-ins
that can be used to expand its features and include functionalities like
Netflix, YouTube, Hulu, Veoh, etc. Kodi’s source code is open source
and developed by a global community of unpaid volunteers. Supported Platforms: Windows 10, Windows 8.1, Windows 7 – Kodi website
9. Plex
Plex
Back in 2015, Plex made a big change and replaced their Plex Home
Theater with its new Plex Media Player. Plex lets you easily take care
of your large media collection, which can include anything like videos,
TV shows, movies, photos, personal videos and music, etc. It organizes
your collections and makes it look great. With its easy-share nature,
you can pick and choose what to make public and give your family access.
It supports almost all file types, including hi-fi music and video
formats. As it’s Chromecast supported, you can cast the videos on your
larger TV screen. You can also use the Plex app on your phone or tablet
to take control of your player. Use this app to streamline your video
content library and get the advantage of a feature-rich video media
player as well. Supported Platforms: Windows 10, Windows 8.1, Windows 7 – Plex website
10. 5KPlayer
5KPlayer for Windows
5KPlayer, the final entry on the list of recommended Windows media
players, is a top-rated video player for Windows 10 as it’s extremely
compatible. It claims to play almost all kinds of videos and music
without any plug-ins, and it actually delivers. Its interface is very
clean and simple. It’s also known for its more streaming options.
5KPlayer also lets you import videos and music from websites like
YouTube, Facebook, Vimeo, MTV, etc. It goes without saying that it’s
compatible with common formats like MP4, MOV, M4V, MP3, AAC,
etc.5KPlayer Supported Platforms: Windows 10, Windows 8.1, Windows 7 – 5KPlayer website
So, which free media player is best in your eyes? Which one do you
use to enjoy movies and other media content? Don’t forget to share your
views and become a part of the discussion.
by Joel Lee. These days, I mostly stick to Spotify for streaming my favorite music and Pandora for discovering new music.
Gone are the days of downloading gigabytes of data and trying to fit
them all on a device. Now I can just listen to whatever I want, wherever
I want, as long as I have a Wi-Fi connection.This Smart Trick Keeps Your Pandora Stations FreshThis Smart Trick Keeps Your Pandora Stations FreshPandora is a great
music service, but sometimes your stations get a little stale. Here's an
easy way to improve them without any effort.Read More
But there are benefits to downloading music instead.
The best one? Being able to play music even when you don’t have
internet access. You also only need to download songs once (which
preserves bandwidth) and you can keep your music forever (as long as you
don’t delete any of it).
If you’re going that route, you now have
a decision to make: which music player are you going to use?
Truthfully, there are a lot of great ones out there, but here are the
ones we’ve found to be the best.
As
far as I’m concerned, foobar2000 is one of the wonders of Windows. It
launched way back in 2002, making it one of the oldest surviving apps
that people still recognize. And in all that time, it has avoided the
biggest mistakes that most apps make: losing focus, becoming bloated,
and not staying relevant.
We praised the virtues of foobar2000
several years ago, and still sing those praises today. It’s lightweight
enough to let you listen to music on any system, no matter how old,
without bogging down performance. And it’s simple enough that you won’t
feel overwhelmed. Yet, it’s extensible through plugins, so you can
incorporate new functionality if you want.
There’s a reason why we have it on our list of Best Windows Software. And as long as it doesn’t lose its way or make any huge mistakes, it will stay in that spot for years to come.
Notable features include:
Lightweight interface is fast, responsive, and customizable.
Supports all major audio formats, including AAC, AIFF, FLAC, MP3, OGG, WAV, WMA, and you can always add more support by installing components.
MusicBee
calls itself the ultimate music manager and player, and based on what
I’ve seen, it deserves that description. This player really cares about
delivering the best music experience it possibly can and giving you the
tools to tweak everything to your liking.
Perhaps
the best thing about MusicBee, which seems to be missing from a lot of
music players these days, is the lively and active community around it.
The forums have thousands of active members and hundreds of new posts
every day — not just for support, but also for user-contributed content
like plugins, skins, tips, and tricks.
Notable features include:
10-band and 15-band equalizers for maximum audio quality.
Automatically tags your music for instant organization.
Handles WASAPI for serious audiophiles with high-end audio equipment.
Supports skins and plugins.
Imports iTunes and Windows Media libraries.
ReplayGain and gapless playback.
Available on Android and Windows Phone for mobile sync and playback.
If you can believe it, Winamp is even older than foobar2000 — by more than five years!
Having launched in 1997, the road has been bumpy at times, and Winamp
nearly shut down altogether back in 2013. But the current version as of
this writing is pretty good. If you ever gave up on Winamp, now might be
a good time to try it out again.
That
said, Winamp has always been a love-it-or-hate-it kind of program. It’s
packed full of features that are definitely useful, but the interface
is unique and some consider it to be a bloated mess that received too
many unnecessary additions over the years. But is it terrible? Not at
all.
Notable features include:
Supports all major audio and video formats, including AAC, AIFF, FLAC, FLV, MKV, MP3, MP4, OGG, WAV, WEBM, WMA, WMV.
Handles skins and plugins.
Imports iTunes libraries.
Discover new artists with dynamic song recommendations.
Smart views and dynamic playlists for variety.
Available on Android for mobile sync and playback.
MediaMonkey is crazy useful for anyone who has a massive media library
— we’re talking hundreds of thousands of songs. A lot of music players
slow down and choke when trying to manage and process that much data,
but MediaMonkey handles it with aplomb.
The
downside to MediaMonkey, if you can even call it a downside, is that
it’s perhaps too advanced for a lot of users. Not that it’s tough to
use, but the interface can be a bit overwhelming to navigate, especially
if you’re used to something more streamlined like foobar2000 or Winamp.
Overall, however, MediaMonkey’s feature set is impressive and
worthwhile.
Notable features include:
Supports all major audio and video formats, including AAC, FLAC,
MKV, MP3, MP4, OGG, WAV, WMA, WMV. Also has a WASAPI plugin for serious
audiophiles with high-end audio equipment.
Handles transcoding between most supported audio formats.
ReplayGain and gapless playback.
Jukebox and Auto-DJ features for parties and public events.
Advanced media tagging, including auto-identification of songs.
Batch and automatic renaming of filenames according to your preferred pattern.
Available on Android and iOS for mobile sync and playback.
You
may not have heard of Dopamine before. Most people haven’t, which is
such a shame. Because this nifty little music player specifically
targets Windows users. It aims to provide a solid music-playing
experience with all of the essentials and none of the bloat.
If you ever used Zune Player, you’ll feel right at home.
Dopamine has
a dark and light theme as well as an accent color (which can be set as a
custom color or it can automatically match your Windows accent color).
Point it to however many music library folders you have and it will
automatically update based on changes therein. Simple and
straightforward.
Notable features include:
Extremely simple and lightweight, essentially barebones.
Supports the following audio formats: AAC, FLAC, MP3, OGG, WAV, and WMA.
Convenient quick controls in the Taskbar, the system tray, and notifications.
Multiple player modes, including cover, micro, and nano modes.
Works well on desktop and mobile versions of Windows 10.
These
two are suspiciously missing from this list. One is a favorite of fans
all around the world and the other comes pre-installed on all modern
Windows systems. Why did we exclude them?
VLC is an excellent way to play media, but it’s more of a video player
than a music player, whereas some of the apps we highlighted above are
music players first and video players second. This is most evident in
the interface, which is better suited for video management than music
management. But it’s also apparent from the heavy feature set, which may
not be desirable for simple music playback.The Top 5 Free Media Players for WindowsThe Top 5 Free Media Players for WindowsStrong media player
apps always rise to the top and it's not important which one you use.
The best media player for you is the one you most enjoy using. We
suggest the following...Read More
Groove Music is okay as well, but perhaps a
little too primitive at the moment. You can play local music with it but
the interface is a bit too clunky to recommend. However, if this
article was expanded to include 10 apps, Groove Music would absolutely
be on there.
For now, I’d only use this player if you’re also subscribed to Groove Music Pass, which lets you stream millions of songs like Spotify or Apple Music.
At
the end of the day, it comes down to whatever you like best. So which
one is your favorite and why? Share your thoughts with us in a comment
below! And if you think we missed a great app, please let us know! Source: https://www.makeuseof.com/tag/best-free-music-players-windows/
MusicBee made it in the top 20 of programs that Ghacks readers cannot live without. Reason enough to check it out and review it here on the site as I have not done so before. It can be best described as a management program for music as it offers way more than just music playback. Aside from playing popular music formats it supports automatic tagging, music management, CD ripping, automatic playlists, music conversions, audiobook and podcast support, and more.
MusicBee is available as a portable version or setup. An import dialog is displayed on first start to get all of your music recognized by the program. It supports imports from Windows Media Library and iTunes, and offers to scan one or multiple local folders as well. The import happens quickly and once it is done, the music library is opened in the program. Depending on how well organized your collection was, you may end up with an orderly list of genres, artists and albums, or a messed up list.
That's not necessarily the program's fault though as it uses existing tags for that. That's where the program's tagging capabilities come into play. If you notice that albums or tracks are not filed correctly, right-click on one or multiple tracks and select one of the available tagging options to correct that issue. MusicBee supports manual tagging options which give you full control over the process and automated tagging options which looks up information that are available in online databases to suggest matching tags.
The tag editor highlights differences when you select a suggested album from the list of suggestions which makes it easier to find the matching album in the list. A mix of automatic suggestions and manual editing is supported as well which may speed things up especially if lots of albums are suggested but none seems to fit yours. You find another tagging related feature in the tools menu. Use it to display songs with missing tags, artwork or lyrics to deal with them one after the other without having to go through the whole music collection to do so. As far as playing is concerned, all it takes is a click on a song to do that. A right-click on a genre, artist or album plays all tracks filed under it automatically which means that you are covered in this regard as well. A click on the preferences icon in the player toolbar displays tools that enable you to control playback even more. Enable the 10-band or 15-band equalizer there, configure DSP plugins or import compatible Winamp DSP plugins if your favorite one is not included in the default selection.
In addition to those options, playlists are supported. While you get regular playlist options that enable you to create your own lists via drag and drop, a selection of automatic playlists are available on top of that. Use them to play recently added or played songs, the top 25 most played songs or use the program's auto DJ functionality which offers extensive customization options that include selecting individual libraries, playlists or folders, applying filters, and track weighting based on various metrics such as ratings or recency. Automatic playlist creation is supported on top of all that. If you are in a hurry or like surprises, you may find the option useful. Playlists are created based on your initial configuration ranging from letting the program do all the work to selecting specific folders, artists or other information that you want included in the selection process.
Enter a music CD to get the album recognized by MusicBee automatically. Even better, right-click the drive and select the rip CD option to add it to your collection on the computer permanently. Doing so displays tagging options right from the start with some information filled out automatically. One thing missing here is the option to look up the missing information directly on the Internet. Since the functionality is integrated in MusicBee, it is not clear why it is not available when you are ripping music CDs. Some information are looked up but not all of them. This leaves you with the option to add the missing information manually or wait until the album is on your computer as you can then use the program's automatic tagging option to fill in the blanks.
Services is another interesting feature. It lets you search for songs on SoundCloud to play those directly in the player, or check out a list of upcoming releases or concerts. If you select concerts you are asked to pick a country and town first. Not all cities are necessarily supported; in Germany for instance, only four cities are listed including Berlin and Cologne but not major cities such as Hamburg or Munich. The player interface is customizable on top of all that. If you don't require certain panels, hide them from the interface so that they don't show up anymore. Switch to one of the available skins instead of which some change the interface significantly.The compact player interface for instance displays only album artwork and the tracklist while the mini player skin tops even that by displaying just a small toolbar on the screen while music is playing. Theater modes change what is being displayed while music is playing, and skins change the interface of the player. One issue that you may have with skins is that the player needs to be restarted each time you switch a skin. If you do that while music is playing, playback is interrupted automatically as well. What else? MusicBee ships with a collection of tools that help you organize your collection. From finding duplicates to downloading artwork and restoring the original volume of a track, all there to help out when you require them. Once you dig deeper into the settings, you find even more features and options that you may find useful. There are lockdown settings to protect the player from being tampered with which may be ideal for parties provided that you want to prevent others from changing songs or modifying the configuration in a way or another. Right-click a song and find related artists or songs in your collection, or use the send to menu to convert the file or copy it to another location on your system. If you open the player preferences, there is even more to explore and configure. Browse hotkeys and set missing ones to control the player from the keyboard, integrate file converters for maximum compatibility, or define the default CD ripping format or enable MTP device support.
Conclusion
MusicBee is an excellent music management and playback program for Windows. It offers such an immense set of features that it feels sometimes that you never get to know them all because there are that many. While that feeling may fade over time, it is almost certain that you will stumble upon features every now and then that you did not know about before. The developer baked so much into the program that you will have a hard time finding a program that offers a comparable feature set. The one downside to MusicBee's feature-richness is that it takes some time to get used to it. While you can ignore most features, you may want to take advantage of at least some of them as they can improve how you play and organize music significantly. This is one of the best music programs for Windows and probably the best all-in-one program you can get your hands on for free.
I love my audio CD collection. I really do. But carrying a hundred CDs with me on a vacation just so that I can listen to that one song when I have to, isn’t exactly my idea of fun. On the other hand, my iPod lets me take more than a hundred CDs worth of songs and is perfectly at peace sitting in a corner of my backpack. So is there even a choice here ? For folks like me who have a small fortune invested in CDs of their favorite artists, the best option is to convert all those CD tracks to MP3 format and that is what this post is about. A list of 5 tools that’ll help you convert your CD’s to an MP3 collection.
iTunes
iTunes is one of those software that almost everyone has on their computer – either because they own an iPod or because, well, they like it. It is a resource hog, I’ll admit, but is also a very capable media player. What many people don’t know is that iTunes is also a very good software to convert a CD to MP3 format, and the process really couldn’t have been simpler.
iTunes, by default, saves songs imported from CDs in the AAC format. To change the default to MP3, open the Preferences Window (Edit->Preferences) and click theImport Settings button.
Select the MP3 Encoder option from the drop down and Click OK.
Now all you have to do is insert the audio CD in the computer and as soon as iTunes detects it, it will pop-up a dialogue box asking for your permission to “import” the CD to it’s Library. Click Import and let iTunes do its job.
FreeRIP
One of the reasons that I like FreeRIP is its support for the lossless FLAC file format but FLAC is not the only format FreeRIP rips to and it is equally at home with the MP3 format also. If you’re ripping songs to put on your iPod, MP3 is what you want to stick to. Just insert the audio CD in the CD tray and select the Rip Selected Tracks to MP3option from the Rip menu.
BonkEnc
BonkEnc is another easy to use free and open source CD ripping tool that can also be used as an audio converter for converting audio files into different formats.
The process of encoding is as easy as it can be. Insert the CD in the drive tray, press the CTRL+E key combination and grab yourself a cup of coffee.
We’ve written about CDex earlier and it’s managed to make this list too. Says a lot about the tool that I personally swear by. Download and install it if you need a simple no nonsense tool.To convert CD tracks to mp3 format, insert the CD, select the tracks that you want converted and hit the F9 button. It really is as easy as it sounds.
Exact Audio Copy or EAC claims to read audio CDs “almost perfectly” and it even tries and correct errors that it finds. The downside is that it doesn’t ship with a built-in MP3 encoder. But, EAC works with the excellent open source MP3 encoder, LAME.
LAME is one of the best MP3 encoders around and a number of commercial programs also use it and you’ll have to download the LAME library on your computer for the encoding functions of EAC to work.
When you run EAC for the first time, it takes you through a wizard which, among other things, asks for the location of the lame.exe file that you downloaded.
That is just about the only configuration you’ll need to perform with EAC. Insert an audio CD, click on the MP3 icon in the sidebar and sit back and relax.
What tools do you swear by for ripping CD’s? One of the above or something totally different? Let us know about it in the comments.
Regardless of which version of Windows you are using, it comes with Windows Media Player. Just insert a music CD in and change the settings to rip in MP3 format. You can also rip to the lossless FLAC format. Enjoy.
The article ...... Play Thousands of Online Radio Stations with Shoutcast in VLC, was a nice little tip and much appreciated : )
I just wanted to add that you can take it a step further and record the stream.
Once you're all done following the instructions mentioned in the article above .....
Right click on the station of your choice and select "save"
In the next window that pops up - select a destination folder and
*NOTE: name the file and add .mp3 to the end (ex: musicstream.mp3)
- Tick the option "Display the output" to keep the music going while its saved
- Select a container from the drop down to the right of "Profile" (i just choose Audio - mp3)
I ran into some problems using Windows and my old audio CD ripper, so I began a search for a replacement. Below is a great article on the subject from Gizmo's. The Fairstars CD Ripper is my new favorite.
Introduction
There are lots of rippers available. All media players including
Windows Media Player can rip. There are also some great freebies plus a
host of commercial rippers. Most will rip to WAV, MP3 and usually
several other formats.
If your CDs are like mine then some are scratched or have lots of
finger-marks. These can cause pops and crackles in the ripped file.
Rippers vary greatly in their ability to handle these problems. Some
will simply get stuck while others will skip forward over the problem or
even create a silent gap. The best programs will try repeatedly to fix
the problem with no audible effects.
After a lot of experimentation, I ended up with five free CD rippers that were impressive with their features.
Discussion
Fairstars CD Ripper is the best ripper on our list. Give it a try, you won't be disappointed.
Fairstars CD Ripper is an excellent utility to rip audio from a music
CD in a variety of formats including WMA, MP3, FLAC, OGG, APE, WAV and
the not so common VQF.
In contrast iTunes wouldn't allow support for open source codecs such as OGG.
What pleasantly surprised me was that Fairstars CD Ripper doesn't
feature an autorun option. This means that you can pop in an audio CD
and expect to rip without launching the program directly. Although this
can be a short toe, it wouldn't really bother the average user who would
have a handy desktop shortcut.
The program doesn't allow a user to tweak the settings for an output
format on the same pane; you have to click on options and then browse
down to the required format in the tree and adjust settings there.
It allows you to query for info. The button is nicely placed. This
can be a life saver! It also allows you to enable ID3 tags in options.
Let me now go into the details of my extraction. I have a Realtek HD
sound card... not very high end and ripped at 320kbps in MP3 format,
Constant Bit Rate, 44khz sampling rate. Again the extract button is
nicely placed and follows up in a nice order to the buttons from the
left.
There's an 'output file name preview' if you're interested.
My desktop has a Core i7 processor and I was done with ripping in
around 3 minutes, which is a good speed. I used the encode with high
speed option under options. Turned out to be pretty nippy. Thank you!
Another very amusing fact is that it chose to rip into a separate 'My
Music' folder in my 'Local' drive rather than the regular 'My Music'
folder in 'My Documents'. This can be a good thing. I can always check
on the quality of the ripped music before I finally move everything into
my 'My Music' folder to sync with my iPod. Most CD rippers do this
anyway.
The quality of the extracted music is very good and up to what is
expected. The music sounds natural; there are no alterations. The volume
level can be adjusted again in options, although I didn't find it
necessary for the CD I was ripping.
If you're unhappy with the the extraction you could always do this
again and if the files exist it will automatically rename the files.
I reran the program. It is very light and doesn't crash or freeze... far from it.
Though the other products reviewed here were capable, Exact Audio Copy(EAC) was outstanding in its ability to handle CD imperfections.
If you head over to any audio forum one of the most common tools
discussed among experts would be EAC. There are so many options for
editing from the command line, the list is virtually endless. If you are
an audiophile, this is the ripper for you. At the same time, beginners
would want to stick with some of the other rippers mentioned in this
list which includes our top pick, Fairstars CD Ripper.
I recently started the long task of ripping my 1200 CDs to my hard
disk. I'm now two thirds of the way through my ripping exercise. Of the
800 or so CDs ripped I've only had 7 tracks that EAC couldn't rip
perfectly. Given the condition of some of my CDs, that's a mighty
impressive performance.
EAC can rip to WAV, MP3 (using the LAME encoder), OGG, FLAC, APE and
more. You could add any custom encoder from the Add encoder dialog in
the Compression Options window.
This is one piece of software that may not require as many updates as it encourages the use of third party tools.
is a bit too plain. You can see it all too clearly in our screenshot.
But that said, it allows a lot of tweaking for each encoder. You can
also find files matching by patterns. That's why it's up here in our
list.
I tried the rip at 320 kbps and much to my surprise the output is clear and well rounded.
This is a portable application so you can install to a usb stick and
take it with you. Fre:ac comes in 38 languages. Check to see if yours is
included.
Comes with support for Lame, OGG Vorbis, FAAC, FLAC, and Bonk
Encoders. An encoder for VQF format is available at the Fre:ac website: www.freac.org
Fre:ac can use Winamp 2 input plugins to support more file formats.
Copy the in_*.dll files to the Fre:ac directory to enable Fre:ac to read
these formats. You can also submit freedb entries that include Unicode
characters.
Of course there is jitter correction that can be enabled in the
configurations dialog. In addition to which, there is a special paranoia
mode. Doesn't have support for APE which is a little sad though Monkeys
Audio is a format that has been sadly overlooked.
The same goes for the Fre:ac ripper. This great opensource project has somehow been overlooked.
is another really cool CD ripper. It extracts audio tracks from CD to MP3, WAV, WMA, FLAC and OGG Vorbis.
What's more? If you really need the feature, it can extract more than one track into a single audio file.
I used the same PC I used for Fairstars to perform the extraction
again. Before that a quick word about the interface. To start with it is
a little difficult to locate the encoding options: not just because of
where its positioned but because of the layout. It just seems a bit
cramped.
That said the program makes a clear distinction of whether you would
like to go with a ripper, a converter or a tagger. Of course I chose the
ripper and ended up with this screen.
As always I chose 44khz MP3, encoding at 320kbps. It's all in the
same pane, so if you want to opt for OGG or FLAC, you can do it in a
jiffy.
This took me a little longer than Fairstars CD Ripper to accomplish
the rip. A note on the sound quality: I found it to be a little closed
as compared to the earlier rips but the vocals sound even more natural.
It is quite as sharp as I would want it to be.
Apart from being a ripper, it is also a converter and a tagger which
ought to enhance its usefulness, but haven't we seen all these features
already? This still ranks number 4 though.
And no crashes at all in reruns.
CD rippers interact strongly with your CD hardware and so it's
possible EAC or the above mentioned others may not work with your
particular CD drive. If that's the case, take a look at CDex. While its performance with scratched CDs is not as good as EAC, it's still an outstanding and capable free product.
It can convert to WAV, MP3 (using the LAME Encoder) OGG, APE, and more.
An especially nice feature of CDex is the ability to transcode one
compressed file format to another, while EAC does not have this option.
It also has the feature of recording straight from analog in.
is the last CD Ripper on our list but be sure not to ignore this one
bit. It is a nifty good piece of software and the developer has taken it
up to put in multi-language help files that are accurate and user
friendly. Now how does the ripper itself work? Getting to that in just a
bit.
The website says that it can actually read many different cd drives…
So I put a CD ROM drive from way back in 1998 to the test and to my
amazement it read it quite well. I wouldn’t comment on the speed of
ripping though. Now I did try two other external DVD –RW drives as well
(recent ones of course) and it read the CDs quite well. In addition to
its other features, it would commonly share with other CD Rippers on our
list. It has Line-in sampling as well. This is a wonderful little CD
Ripper delightfully made by its creator that offers up almost any option
you could ask for.
Why is it here on our list then, well shouldn’t it be higher up? It
should be and it would have been right there at the top had it not been
for the Funmoods search settings that it installs and a tab to go along
with it. I think that changing my search settings can be a real bother
and I am sure quite a few of you out there would share the same feeling.
So here it is Audiograbber. If you are willing to put up with the fact
that it hasn’t been updated in quite a while and the Funmoods tab, then
this might be the CD Ripper for you.
Gizmo's Freeware award as the best product in its class!
Runs as a stand-alone program on a user's computer
ID3 tags in options.
It allows you to query for info . The button is nicely placed.
The quality of the extracted music is very good and is sharp.
if the files exist it will automatically rename the files.
lightweaight and no crashes or freezes fastest in our tests.
doesn't feature an auto-run
option
The program doesn't allow a user to tweak the settings for an output
format on the same pane, you've to click on options and then browse down
to the required format in the tree and adjust settings there
There is no portable version of this product available.
Windows 95/7
Additional software required: LAME Encoder - available here.
Non-English languages supported: many available here.
Free Rip Mp3
4
Runs as a stand-alone program on a user's computer
The program makes a clear
distinction between whether you would like to go with a ripper, a
converter or a tagger. vocals sound even more natural though it sounds a
bit closed
To start with it is a little
difficult to locate the encoding options. This took me a little longer
than Fairstars Cd Ripper to accomplish the same rip.
Caution! uses a wrapped installer! - see information panel below
There is no portable version of this product available.
Compatible with all versions of Windows, including Windows 7
Uses the Offercast APN
Install Manager to install additional software you may not want. Users
may wish to consider blocking this program with their firewall as it
will attempt to connect to the internet when the installer is first run.
Audiograbber
4
Runs as a stand-alone program on a user's computer
nice clean interface
easy to use and portable
has just about ever feature you could ask for along with line in sampling
installs a third party search tool and alters browser settings
badly in need of an update
