How to Create MP3s in AudioCatalyst

AudioCatalyst is a Windows application that allows you to convert (or "encode") music from CD to MP3 format.

Difficulty: Moderate

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• CDs

1. Download and install the latest version of AudioCatalyst, which you can find in the accessories section of real.com.

2. Double-click the AudioCatalyst application icon to launch the program.

3. Insert an audio CD into your computer.

4. Select the track you want to encode to MP3 by clicking the box next to the track number.

5. Click on the Settings menu, then click again on General. At the bottom of the resulting window you'll see some tabs.

6. Click the Naming tab, then check the box labeled "Track number." This will organize your songs first by number, then by name. This is helpful if you want to maintain the same musical order of the CD in your MP3 folder.

7. Click the Grab button toward the top of the AudioCatalyst window.

8. Watch AudioCatalyst start encoding your files. It will save them inside the same folder where the AudioCatalyst application resides, once encoding is complete.

9. Use AudioCatalyst's built-in MP3 player - or another MP3 player of your choosing - to listen to your new tracks.

Tips & Warnings

• AudioCatalyst is shareware, and is limited to downloading half the tracks on any given CD until you purchase the product.
• If you have a connection to the Internet, before grabbing your tracks with AudioCatalyst, click the CDDB button. It will take you to a music database site and locate the names of every song, as well as the artist and album name for you.

[SeanHeeger]

on 12/19/2008 CDDB doesn't work on AC 2.1. I had to hack the INI file to use the freedb.org server.