This is another of AudioCD MP3 Studio 2000's outstanding functions. The program exploits the full performance of today's high-speed CD-ROM drives, enabling you to extract audio tracks from music CDs at high speed and with outstanding quality. (See Write and Read Speed Issues for a discussion of issues associated with CD drive speeds and audio quality.) Audio buffs often refer to this high-speed extraction process as "ripping".
In addition to excellent ripping performance, AudioCD MP3 Studio 2000 also conserves your valuable hard disk space by enabling you to store your extracted wave files in a compressed format with a compression performance of around 1:4. Although the resulting files are just one quarter the size this format is 100% compatible with ordinary wave files.
These compressed-format wave files are saved with the standard .wav extension and you can use them just like regular wave files. You can play them directly with Windows Media Player and other audio file players and you can edit them with sound editing programs.
The audio quality is also excellent -- there's no audible difference between compressed and uncompressed wave files, just a 75% space-saving on your hard disk. The only difference between the compressed and uncompressed versions of wave files is the size. For example, this means that you only need around 150-160 megabytes of space for a 60-minute audio CD project, instead of over 600. In the digital audio world, this is the closest thing there is to a free lunch!
To save your extracted audio tracks as compressed-format wave files select the WAV compressed option in Options - Settings - Track Directory - Save As (see Configuration and Settings for full details).
By default, AudioCD MP3 Studio 2000 writes extracted files to the track directory defined in the program Options. You can change this default path if you wish in Options - Settings - Track Directory (see Configuration and Settings for full details). You can also define an individual output path and directory for every file you extract with the Read CD function. For example, if you want you can define ten different paths for ten different tracks from the same CD and extract them all to these different directories in a single ripping session.
Check that your source CD drive is selected and configured properly (see Configuration and Settings) and insert an audio CD in the drive.
Click on the Read CD icon in the toolbar or select Read CD from the CD menu. This displays the Read CD dialog box:
This window shows all the details of the tracks on the CD. There are columns for the title, artist, playing length and the file path and name for the output wave file. You can adjust the widths of the columns by dragging on the dividers between the column titles.
When you first insert a CD you will just see the track numbers and the playing times of each track, as audio CDs do not contain any title and artist data.
There are two different ways of "selecting" tracks in the CD Information window. To highlight a track just click anywhere in the track list entry but not in the square box to the left of the track title. This will highlight the track in the display, as shown in Track 6 above. Once a track is highlighted you can select or deselect it with the Select and Deselect buttons to the right of the window.
Selecting a track marks it for reading -- this means that this track will be extracted to a wave file when you click on the Read button at the bottom of the window. Selected tracks are identified with a check mark in the selection box to the left of the track title. You can also select tracks directly without highlighting them first; to do this, just click in the selection box to the left of the track title.
The first time you select a track for extraction with Select or by clicking in the selection box the Track Properties dialog is displayed, allowing you to edit the Title and Artist data and the path and file name for the output wave file. You can also display the Track Properties dialog at any time by double-clicking on the track entry in the list.
If you want, you can now enter the title and artist information. This information will then be automatically displayed in your playlists when you select and load the wave files later. If you are satisfied with the default location and file name for the output wave file shown in the Filename: field you don't need to change them. If you wish, however, you can enter a more descriptive name and change the path to store the a output file in a different directory. To do this just click on the browse button next to the Filename: field. This opens the standard Windows Save As dialog.
AudioCD MP3 Studio 2000 supports CDDB 2, the latest version of the CDDB online audio compact disc database, which contains the full details of most CDs on the market. If your computer has Internet access you can use this service to automatically enter all the title and artist details of your audio CDs.
If your computer is not already connected to the Internet you will be prompted to go online when you click on the Get CDDB Entry button. The first time you use the service you will be asked to register (the service is free), but the next time you will be able to access the database directly as soon as you go online.
If the CD in your drive is registered in the database (and most are) all the track, title and artist details will be downloaded automatically and inserted in the track list.
For full details on this function and CDDB 2 please see The CDDB Database Function.