1. Introduction

I will try to explain every step you need take to copy a song from your CD to your harddisk in MP3 format. It is quite easy to do but sometimes you may have some difficulties with some tracks.

First of all you need a cd ripper to perform this task. You can search for one here, or just follow this link to download Audiograbber, it has a lot of options but is still very easy to use. If you can't figure out how this program works then check out it's online tutorial or check the included help file.

3. Listen to the tracks

This step is not required but it can save you a lot of time if you take this step. The drawback is that you need to have enough free space to do this. (up to 650 MB)
After you have ripped the cd you should listen to the songs. At least check out the beginning and the end of the songs if they are OK. Sometimes you may hear a popping sound when you play it. If this happens then the best thing you can do is to start over with that song, but you will have to discard the first frames of it. Do not discard to much or you might loose a bit of it. After a few tries you will definately find the right number of frames that have to be discarded.
Maybe you want to edit the tracks. Pre adding a leading silence or adding an effect to it. I advise you to use Soundforge or Cool Edit Pro

The most important part! Get yourself a decent encoder from here. I advice not to search for a fast encoder. Encoding is a slow proces. Some encoders can do the job very fast, but the drawback of this is that the encoded file's quality is far below the slowly encoded one! If you don't believe me then encode a song with a fast encoding program and with a slow one. Then play it with your stereo, you will hear the difference! The bitrate that has the best quality/size ratio is 128.000 bps. This way your files will be 10 times smaller than the original one with near-CD quality. Some programs have an option to encode with highest quality. Select that option to get the best quality. If you can't find such an option then it will always encode in best quality. Do not forget to delete the huge wav files after encoding or you might need a new hd after a few days.

Now that you have encoded your file you want to listen to your work, right? Select a player from this list or click here to download Winamp, the program that millions of people use. You don't like it's look? Don't worry, check out the skins page where some of the best skins are available.

6. Decoding to a wav file

Most people do not have to do this. I only put this here because I get a lot of mails from people asking me how to make a big wav file from a mp3 file.
Here's how to do this with Winamp:
Select "options" from the menu, right-click the UI on a place where is no button. Now select "preferences". Under "plugin" you will find "Output". If you don't see it then download a newer version, you must be using a very old one!! On the right side you will see "Nullsoft Disk Writer Plug-In (x86) (OUT_DISK.DLL). Select it and push configure. It will show you your directory structure. Select a directory where you want to store the wav file.
Do not forget to change your configuration back to the original or you won't be able to hear the mp3 files you are playing, you will just fill your hd! The plugin you need to select is Nullsoft WaveOut Plug-In to get everything back to normal.
I'm sure that other mp3 players have the same option to decode mp3 files to wav files, just search for it if you don't use Winamp.

7. Files

Codec by Fraunhofen-Gesellschaft IIS: If you install this file you will be able to play wav files encoded in mp3 format. This may be very useful because this way you can easily play the mp3 files with almost every program.
A screen capture of the properties of such a file.
The zip file has been checked for viruses and I'm 99.9% certain that it's free of viruses.