# MP-3 players and ripping music **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [December 2, 2003, 1:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mp-3-players-and-ripping-music/216388 "2003-12-02T01:28:47Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Cartooniverse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cartooniverse/32/3084_2.png) [@Cartooniverse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cartooniverse)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2003, 1:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mp-3-players-and-ripping-music/216388/1 "2003-12-02T01:28:47Z")
Simple straightfoward question. My daughter was given an MP-3 player for her birthday. The software installed fine into the pc, however the softward does not include software to rip an audio file into an MP-3 file. Without that, she cannot export files into her tiny little player. Does anyone know of a simple program that will rip a regular audio file into an MP-3 file? Of course, she’s using this to rip only CD’s of the youth orchestra she performs with on the violin. Can someone suggest a basic program to convert these formats. The machine is a PII-233mmx, Win 98 SE. 10 Gig HD, so she will be burning a bunch, then xferring them over, then dumping those and burning more. Thank you in advance for the help, Cartooniverse ---
**Author:** ![Revtim](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/revtim/32/1042_2.png) [@Revtim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Revtim)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2003, 1:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mp-3-players-and-ripping-music/216388/2 "2003-12-02T01:40:22Z")
My favorite prog for ripping mp3s: [http://www.dbpoweramp.com/dmc.htm](http://www.dbpoweramp.com/dmc.htm) ---
**Author:** ![Dread\_Pirate\_Danno](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/858c86/32.png) [@Dread\_Pirate\_Danno](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dread_Pirate_Danno)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2003, 1:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mp-3-players-and-ripping-music/216388/3 "2003-12-02T01:48:19Z")
Music Match Jukebox is my favorite. Get it free [here.](http://www.musicmatch.com) ---
**Author:** ![collinsc](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f6c823/32.png) [@collinsc](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/collinsc)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2003, 1:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mp-3-players-and-ripping-music/216388/4 "2003-12-02T01:49:23Z")
I love EAC - [http://www.exactaudiocopy.de/](http://www.exactaudiocopy.de/) but it likely wouldnt be called a “simple program.” ---
**Author:** ![troub](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/troub/32/14802_2.png) [@troub](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/troub)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2003, 2:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mp-3-players-and-ripping-music/216388/5 "2003-12-02T02:07:06Z")
Most later versions (7+?) of Windows Media Player, which comes with Windows, have a “Copy from CD” button that will convert your CDs for you. Go to Tools -\> Options and click the “Copy Music” tab to set options such as bit rate, file format (mp3 or wma), etc. ---
**Author:** ![Ms2001](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ms2001/32/18463_2.png) [@Ms2001](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ms2001)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2003, 2:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mp-3-players-and-ripping-music/216388/6 "2003-12-02T02:53:22Z")
My favorite is [CDex](http://cdexos.sourceforge.net/). ---
**Author:** ![Nanoda](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ce73a5/32.png) [@Nanoda](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nanoda)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2003, 7:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mp-3-players-and-ripping-music/216388/7 "2003-12-02T07:33:38Z")
You should check out [this earlier thread](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=226072). ---
**Author:** ![Nanoda](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ce73a5/32.png) [@Nanoda](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nanoda)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2003, 7:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mp-3-players-and-ripping-music/216388/8 "2003-12-02T07:41:30Z")
And should you decide to use Media Player, turn _off_ “Copy protect Music”, or it probably won’t work anywhere but that computer. ---
**Author:** ![muttrox](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a8b319/32.png) [@muttrox](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/muttrox)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2003, 1:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mp-3-players-and-ripping-music/216388/9 "2003-12-02T13:02:51Z")
Real Player does it, so does Windows Media Player, so does Real Player. Essentially, once you have music in your computer in just about any format, all the major software players will do conversions for you. ---
**Author:** ![Mort\_Furd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Mort\_Furd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mort_Furd)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2003, 1:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mp-3-players-and-ripping-music/216388/10 "2003-12-02T13:17:59Z")
So, Cartooniverse. Whatever happened with the sterile computer thingy? ---
**Author:** ![Shepherdless](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/85f322/32.png) [@Shepherdless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shepherdless)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2003, 2:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mp-3-players-and-ripping-music/216388/11 "2003-12-02T14:29:28Z")
CDex is the best among the free rippers, IMO. Use with the Lame encoder @ 128kbps for compact mp3s with good enough sound, and 192-256kbps for better quality but larger files. With classical music I would suggest a higher bitrate. CD’n’Go ([www.cdngo.com](http://www.cdngo.com)) is another good free ripping software. ---
**Author:** ![Cartooniverse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cartooniverse/32/3084_2.png) [@Cartooniverse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cartooniverse)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2003, 6:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mp-3-players-and-ripping-music/216388/12 "2003-12-02T18:48:33Z")
**Mort** , the young lady thankfully has not been hospitalized. More to the point, I was given some most excellent advice by a Doper who had gone down that path already. There are organizations that arrange for computer access for people in Isolation. Who know? Not me. We’re hoping at this point that I never need to pursue it, but it’s a month-to-month thing, as is so frequently the case. **Nanoda** , I’m embarassed. I should indeed have looked there first. As for iTunes, now that it can be used in Windows, I may go for it- if it doesn’t take up immense amounts of a fairly small hard drive. I’m familiar with it, and it is indeed incredibly easy to use. ---
**Author:** ![Mort\_Furd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Mort\_Furd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mort_Furd)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2003, 6:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mp-3-players-and-ripping-music/216388/13 "2003-12-02T18:59:16Z")
Good to hear that things haven’t gone that way, Cartooniverse. All the best.