Copy Audio CDs Using Windows Media Player 10

Windows Media Player 10, at the time of this writing, is Microsoft's latest release of media management software. It is available free of charge for Windows customers. The most popular feature is its ability to copy an audio CD and convert the copied audio files to be played on a digital audio device. The steps below will show you how to accomplish this:

Insert the audio CD into your computer’s CD drive.

Note: If your CD player is set to auto-start, a window titled “Audio CD” pops up. Just select “Take No Action” and click OK.

Go to Start>> All Programs>> Windows Media Player
Click Windows Media Player to start the program.
Click the "Now Playing" tab, then click the "Rip" tab. A list of tracks for the loaded CD will now appear (See Figure #1).
Shown at the top of the tracks is the information bar. On the information bar lists; Title, Length, Artist along with other information pertaining to your CD. If you would like to have more or even less information about your CD listed in the Information bar, you can right click the information bar. You will now see many other options available (see Figure #2). Placing a checkmark next to the item applies it to the information bar and unchecking it will remove it from the information bar. You can toggle the selection on and off by simply clicking on the item. If you have an Internet connection, click “Find Album Info” to have the information automatically filled in for the selected items.
Right click the top of the Windows media Player window and from the resulting menu, select Tools>> Options.
Select the "Rip Music" tab.
Find the the “Rip Music to this location” option. This is where the files are to be stored on your hard drive. If you would like to change the location, just click "Change", then navigate to your preferred location. You can select the details that you would like to include in the file names by clicking on the "File name..." button.
Under Rip settings, select the Format you wish to save your music to. The choices are:

Windows Media Audio
Windows Media Audio (variable bit rate)
Windows Media Audio (lossless)
mp3

The three Windows Media Audio choices can result in better sounding audio files, but they are not as widely supported on digital audio players as is the mp3. Once you've selected your format, you will need to adjust the audio quality using the "Audio quality" slide bar. Moving the slider to the right will increase the bit rate (kbps=kilobits per second) which in turn creates better sound quality. Keep in mind that increasing the bit rate also increases the audio file size and will shrink the storage capacity of your CD.
Once you have your settings selected, click Apply, then click OK to close the Options window. This will return you to the Windows Media Player window.
In the Windows Media Player screen, you will see checkmarks next to each of the tracks (see Figure #3). The checked selections will be copied to your hard drive, if you do not want to copy a certain selection, just click inside the checkbox to uncheck it.
Now you're ready to copy your selections to your hard drive. Click "Rip Music". Then tick the entry stating that you would like to keep your current format settings. Then click OK. A progress bar will appear next to each song title as it is copied onto your hard drive. You can still uncheck a selection at this time, or click "Stop Rip" at any time.
When all of the songs have been ripped, you're done! It is now safe to go ahead and eject your CD and put it away. Good job! Enjoy!!

Figure #1	Figure #2	Figure #3

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