Windows Media Player Ripping Question

Factual Questions
1

I just got a new computer yesterday-not by choice, the hard drive went out in my old laptop- and I now have a new Acer desktop with Windows 7. It has the windows media player I am familiar with; I always rip some of my favorite CDs to the player so I have my music handy.

Well, before work today, I ripped one of them, just to make sure I could. It ripped just fine and is now in the library. Tonight, however, I have tried 2 different CDs and get the error message: Windows Media Player cannot rip one or more tracks from the CD, with a little icon of a CD with a red X over it.

So… any idea what’s going on? I really like the convenience of not having to have a pile of CDs sitting by me. Why would one rip just fine and no more?

2

You could try a different ripper.

Exact Audio Copy is great and free, but it’s a bit to set up.

Cue Ripper

http://www.cuetools.net/wiki/CUERipper

Is the next best thing to EAC and it is also free and is much easier to work worth. It even gives you an EAC log

It could be your CD is scratched up since the last time you tried to rip it

3

This may have the answer to your question

I would also suggest a different ripper mainly EAC exact audio copy it takes a teeny bit of setting up but it is the best of the best in my opinion

It searches the internet for the information of tracks and artist for cd’s you rip and also searches for the album covers.

4

Here’s a vote for FreeRip, again free and easy to setup. Not sure why but the idea of using Media Player to rip CDs never appealed to me. CD ripping is a very utilitarian task and I prefer a simple utility, not an all-encompassing app, to do it with.

5

What an odd error. How can the encoder fail because the bitrate is too low? I get making a crappy sounding MP3, but actually failing?

Heck, I was going to come in and say that it’s likely there’s a scratch on both CDs, and that WMP just doesn’t handle scratches as well as other ripping software. And that still may be the case.

But that there even is a possibility that it’s just too low quality? That boggles the mind.

6

I still don’t know what the problemn was with it, but Saturday, I tried it again and it’s ripping with no problem, the same ones it refused. shrug

I just have always used Windows, on all my computers; 2 computers back, I did have iTunes installed and had hundreds of my CDs stored there, but have been unable ti get it to work.

Have I mentioned that I am pretty much computer illiterate?

7

Since it’s a new computer, I’d be more inclined to suspect a hardware problem than a software problem: anything from a speck of dust on the laser lens (which could easily be cleaned, and may already be gone if things are working properly now) to a malfunctioning CD drive (that’s showing the first signs of failure).