Legal, Cost free, Malware-free, Audio CD Duplication Software?

Factual Questions
1

I’m looking for PC software to duplicate ordinary audio CDs for personal use. It doesn’t need any features beyond [Insert master], read, [insert blank] write, repeat. This isn’t a production facility; I’m only making one copy of each CD so 1-to-many copying isn’t a needed feature. No need for MP3, etc.; just plain old CD-A.

Malware (ie advertiser-supported stuff) is right out. Shareware is OK, freeware is better.

Any suggestions?

Mods: I’m assuming this is within the rules. If TPTB rule this is asking about copyright violations, rather than making fair use of my personal possessions, close or destroy as you will.

2
  1. a hard drive with at least 2 GB freespace
  2. a CD writer
  3. the original CD
  4. a CD-R or a CD-RW
  5. WMP 9 or 10, and either WXP or a third party software
3

Thanks for trying, but that isn’t doing what I need. Or perhaps I don’t know what you mean by WXP.

The machine is running Windows XP Pro & has one CD/DVD reader/writer. It has Windows Media Player 10.

WMP’s rip feature as described in the help should produce wmp or mp3 files on my hard drive. That’s not what I want, but I might be able to get to my goal via that indirect means. If it worked.

What actually happens when I choose “Rip Audio CD” is the WMP UI changes to the little strip with pause, rewind, & fast forward controls, the CD begins to play, & nothing is stored anywhere. If I stop that & choose “Burn Audio CD…” absolutely nothing happens.

Since I’ve never used this program before I don’t know what to expect, but this probably ain’t right.

I have burned audio CDs with it in the past using not-so-great shareware whose trial period has expired & which has since been uninstalled. The machine can play audio CDs just fine now. So I doubt that either the hardware or the basic Windows CD support installation is defective.

Anyone have any thoughts on this or suggestions for a dedicated pogram to do the simple thing I want?

4

see below.

Exacltly as I meant. WXP=Windows XP (home). WMP 9 is Widows media player 9.

[QUOTE=LSLGuy]

WMP’s rip feature as described in the help should produce wmp or mp3 files on my hard drive. That’s not what I want, but I might be able to get to my goal via that indirect means. If it worked.
<snip>
What actually happens when I choose “Rip Audio CD” is the WMP UI changes to the little strip with pause, rewind, & fast forward controls, the CD begins to play, & nothing is stored anywhere. If I stop that & choose “Burn Audio CD…” absolutely nothing happens.

[QUOTE]

I realy have no idea why this doesn’t work for you. I use WMP 9 (not 10—if you have WMP10 then go back to 9 as 10 sucks Donkey kong), but I have burned dozens of CDs using WXP and MP9—convert the the files back to redbook cd when you transferred the files from the original cd to your HD.

It’s been a whlie since I did this, and admittedly I copied my CDs to CD-R while I was drunk. Believe it or not, it was easier to do it that way.

I know for certain that you can copy a CD to a CD-R just by using Media Player 9 and windows XP (home).

5

There should also be a “Start Ripping” button on the screen somewhere, that you click to get WMP to rip the tracks from the CD to your hard drive.

They should be saved in whatever format you have set in WMP. (To change the format, select the Tools menu, then Options, then click on the Rip Music tab. If you want the copied CD to be equal in quality to the original, you’ll want to use a lossless format, like WAV or WMA Lossless.)

Once ripping is complete, you can use WMP to burn the tracks to a blank CD-R, then delete them from your hard drive.

I wouldn’t be surprised if there’s some other program out there that would make the whole process more automatic and streamlined, which seems to be what you’re looking for, but yes, it can be done with Windows Media Player.

6

Honstly, I think the problem the OP is having is with the version of Media player he is using. WMP10 sucks, and 9 is FAR better. Unfortunately, it isn’t easy to revert back to 9 after 10 is already installed.

7

From 'The 46-Best-ever Freeware Utilities":

http://www.techsupportalert.com/best_46_free_utilities.htm

83 Best Free CD Ripper
[1] Best Open Source Mac CD Ripping Software 2023 (1.91MB)
[2] http://www.exactaudiocopy.de/ (1.18MB)
[3] http://www.audiograbber.com-us.net/ (1.6MB)

86 Best Free CD Burning Software
[1] http://www.cdburnerxp.se/ Windows 98 and later, 11.02 MB
[2] http://www.deepburner.com/ Windows 98 and later, 2.60 MB
[3] http://www.burrrn.net/ Windows 98 and later, 2.02 MB
[4] http://isorecorder.alexfeinman.com/CreateCD.htm Windows XP and 2003, 63 KB
[5] http://www.commandburner.com/ Windows NT and later, 2.71 MB
[6] http://www.dvdshrink.org/ Windows 9x/2000/XP, 1.06 MB
[7] http://www.imgburn.com/ Windows 98 and later, 860 KB
[8] http://isorecorder.alexfeinman.com/isorecorder.htm Windows XP and 2003 (64-bit available), 320 KB

The site linked above even has a brief comment about each software.

8

I just want to note:
Just because a certain software is better in most situations, doesn’t mean it is best in most or of course all.

Buyer beware, especially if it is “free”.

9

I have had good results with both the #2’s above: ExactAudioCopy and DeepBurner.

I would avoid Windows Media Player like the plague. Especially in newer versions, it writes degraded copies of your music, and makes it inconvenient to do even this. Microsoft has chosen to support the RIAA over supporting its’ customers.

Well, Windows Media Player is not only free, but comes pre-installed with the OS on most computers. For a “free” product to survive, when it does the same basic task as a pre-loaded MS product, and you have to go thru the effort to download & install it, it has to be quite a bit better than the MS Product!

10

Thanks one and all. I’m sure one of the xash’s links will be just the ticket.