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turn CDs into MP3 files |
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It's inevitable: One day, you'll find that downloading MP3s from the Internet just isn't enough. You'll want to start doing your own encoding--after all, who has better taste than you? One great reason to get into MP3 encoding is so that you can put together an online mix and send the location to your friends. But whatever your reason, you'll need to be able to encode MP3s for free and without a lot of undue hassle.
Required attention span: 1 minute to 3 minutes per song |
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Follow these simple steps |
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Step one
Download and install Musicmatch Jukebox. There are other options, but at present it's the easiest way to encode MP3s at high quality without paying for registration.
Step two
Quit all other programs and run Musicmatch. Allow the software to perform whatever diagnostic tests it wants to on your CD-ROM drive and system. The more accurately it knows the read speed of your drive and your computer's system resources, the better it will be at ripping your CDs.
Step three
Click the Record button on the player to open the encoder and insert an audio CD into the CD-ROM drive. Musicmatch will sync up with the CDDB to find the names of the tracks, which will be automatically turned into ID3 tags in the MP3s you're making. This makes them easy to identify after they're converted.
Step four
Go to the Options menu and choose Recorder/Settings. In the Recording Quality section, choose the bit rate at which you want to record. For CD-quality sound, we recommend setting the bit rate at 128Kbps (or higher if you think better sound is worth larger file sizes).
Step five
Check the boxes next to the tracks you want to encode. Click the Record button to begin encoding. Don't use your computer for anything else while encoding, or else you risk adding skips to your MP3s.
Step six
After you're done encoding, the file is ready to be archived in your music collection, sent to friends, or uploaded to a Web page. See our "Next steps" section below for more info on how to do those things well.
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- Now that you've converted your CDs to MP3s, why not take them on the road? CNET's portable-audio page features the latest products available on the market.
- Read CNET's review of Musicmatch Jukebox.
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Record an Internet radio show
Ever wish you could set up a timed recording for a radio show as you would for a TV show? If your favorite radio programs are available online, you can.
bit rate - In essence, a measure of how many bits describes each sound in an audio file. A low bit rate means lower quality and a smaller file size, while a high bit rate means better quality and larger files. The standard bit rate is 128Kbps.
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