Good CD ripping software

[A.M. Rush]

Hi, everyone.

I'm looking for some opinions on a good ripping program. I'm thinking
about getting a portable music player, so I want to be able to compress
my WAV files. But the software I have, Easy CD Creator 5 (which in my
experience has really not been a very good program), won't let me save
WMAs at any higher than 128kbps. I tend to listen to music that calls
attention to detail, and I can hear a slight loss of sound quality at
128. (At the moment, I'm not even considering conversion to MP3, since
every MP3 I've ever heard sounds like crap. Though I'm open to
suggestion -- maybe the stuff I've heard has just been at a low
bitrate.)

So, bottom line, my question is: What programs are out there that will
let me convert WAV to WMA at upwards of 128? I know there's some
freeware online that allows 192 kbps, but I also know that CD-quality
is around 256 or so.

And how big are WMA files when you get to 192, 256, or even 320? Surely
much less than WAV's 10 megs per minute, right?

I'm on XP, for what it's worth.

Thanks in advance!

--amr

[Ian S]

CDex allows ripping WMA at 160 kbps but my understanding is that at higher
rates, the difference between wma and mp3 is insignificant. Why don't you
try mp3 at 320 and work down from there? Ogg-Vorbis goes much higher (about
500) so you could also try that.

"A.M. Rush" > wrote in message
ups.com...
> Hi, everyone.
>
> I'm looking for some opinions on a good ripping program. I'm thinking
> about getting a portable music player, so I want to be able to compress
> my WAV files. But the software I have, Easy CD Creator 5 (which in my
> experience has really not been a very good program), won't let me save
> WMAs at any higher than 128kbps. I tend to listen to music that calls
> attention to detail, and I can hear a slight loss of sound quality at
> 128. (At the moment, I'm not even considering conversion to MP3, since
> every MP3 I've ever heard sounds like crap. Though I'm open to
> suggestion -- maybe the stuff I've heard has just been at a low
> bitrate.)
>
> So, bottom line, my question is: What programs are out there that will
> let me convert WAV to WMA at upwards of 128? I know there's some
> freeware online that allows 192 kbps, but I also know that CD-quality
> is around 256 or so.
>
> And how big are WMA files when you get to 192, 256, or even 320? Surely
> much less than WAV's 10 megs per minute, right?
>
> I'm on XP, for what it's worth.
>
> Thanks in advance!
>
> --amr
>