- 1). Open your CD ripping software. You can use Windows Media Player or iTunes if you do not have dedicated ripping software, since Windows Media Player is included with Windows computers and iTunes is included with Macintosh computers.
- 2). Insert the CD containing the relevant audio files into your CD drive, then rip the files to your hard disk. To do this in Windows Media Player, click the "Rip" tab, then click "Rip Music." Take note of the line of text near the bottom of the window that reads "X item(s) selected to rip to..." The path that follows is the output folder where the ripped files will be stored. In iTunes, simply click "Import CD." The output folder defaults to the location of your iTunes library.
- 3). Close the ripping software when the rip is complete, then open your media conversion software. Most operating systems do not include one, so you will need to download and install one if you have not already done so. There are plenty of freeware media converters, such as Format Factory, SUPER, and MediaCoder, which can be downloaded directly from their home pages.
- 4). Access the media converter's preferences to set the output file format--the most popular lossy compressed formats are MP3, WMA, and AAC, and the most popular lossless compressed format is FLAC. Lossy compression yields smaller file sizes than lossless compression, but it also sacrifices audio data, thus resulting in lower sound quality. Set the output folder for the converted files to your desired location.
- 5). Add the ripped audio files to the conversion project. With most media converters, you can simply navigate to the folder containing them (the output folder from Windows Media Player or iTunes), then drag and drop them into the converter's interface. Otherwise, you will need to click the "Add" button to browse for the ripped audio files.
- 6). Click the "Convert" button to begin converting the audio files. When the conversion is complete, close the media converter, then navigate to the output folder to find the new files.
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