“How can I convert a CD to an MP3 format?”
Actually it is a very easy process. There are many ways to convert audio CD into MP3 and there isn’t any shortage of free software to do it. If you plan to use your Windows Media Player that came with Microsoft, then just too bad because Microsoft emphasis is on their own proprietary WMA format which I find that not so many MP3 players support it. Microsoft Windows Media Player can play MP3 but their conversion from audio CDs into MP3 do not have so many options. They are geared more to WMA format also. So when it comes to conversion to a compact audio file, better stick to the MP3 format which has a pervasive following.
I find that iTunes provided free by Apple is the best for converting an audio CD into MP3. However after downloading it, the default format for conversion is the Apple’s own AAC format. So first thing first after installing iTunes is to go into the preference settings and change the import settings. Here’s how to do it.
1. Goto Edit and click “Preference”
2. In the General tab, click “Import Settings…”
3. In the Import Settings dialog box, change the “Import Using” to “MP3 Encoder”. Also select your import quality. My favourite quality is High Quality (160kbps) which is gives a very good sound quality without ending up with a very large filesize. Play around here to find out your favourite quality/size trade off.
Press OK and that’s it! Pop in your audio CD and make sure you are connected online to let the Gracenote algorithm to identify your audio CD album title and track names from its music database. Most of the time it gets it right, though on some rare occasion it does get it wrong. If it gets it wrong, then just too bad, you have to retype the album title and track names one by one the tedious way.
If you are feeling lazy to rename them one by one, you can just edit all the tracks en masse, by highlighting the tracks, right click, and click on “get info”. From there on you just edit some basic details like album name and artist and all the tracks selected will be edited.
Enjoy!
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