How to Rip CDs Using Windows Media Player

Using Windows Media Player to rip music from your CDs will give you several options for playing and working with these media files. After you rip tracks from a CD, they are available as files on the Media Player program; from there, you can use your music to make your own CDs. You can listen to the tracks on MP3 players and access them from your computer anytime you like.

Difficulty: Easy

Instructions

1. Connect to the internet. Windows Media Player will attempt to acquire media information about the tracks you are ripping from the Windows Media Database that is maintained by Microsoft. The media information may include the artist, title, album, producer and even pictures of the album cover. Media Player then adds the information to the files during ripping. You can add or edit information after the ripping is complete.

2. Open the Windows Media Player program by clicking on the “Start” and selecting “Windows Media Player” under the “All Programs” list. Once the program is running, you will have access to all of its features.

3. Insert a CD into the computer. Select the CD you would like to burn and insert it into the player. Windows Media Player will automatically read the disk and start playing the music. Click on the "Now Playing" tab to view a list of all of the songs available on the CD ,along with a vibrant show of colors and patterns moving in rhythm with the music.

4. Once you are ready to rip the CD, click on the “Rip” tab at the top of the screen. On this tab, you can view the list of song titles, their length, the rip status, the artist and the composer. Select the media you would like to rip to your system by clicking in the box to the left of each song. Finally, click on the “Start Rip” button in the bottom right corner of the screen. If the rip tab is already open when you insert the CD, Media Player will begin ripping the files automatically.

5. Access the ripped music for use. All media that is ripped from a CD with the Windows Media Player is automatically stored. When the music rip is completed, you can access the media by clicking on the “Library” tab at the top of the screen. If you would like to burn the files to a CD, click on the “Burn” tab, then click and drag the album to the “Burn List” on the right side of the screen and click on the “Start Burn” button. To sync the media to a MP3 player click on the “Sync” tab, click and drag to the “Sync List” box and click “Start Sync."