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This tutorial is designed to give you an overview of digital audio. You will learn how to:

1. extract (rip) a track from a CD into .WAV format

2. convert .WAV to MP3

3. convert the MP3 file into a CD-suitable file

4. create a player ready CD from former MP3 files and, finally, we will describe the more technical side of digital audio editing which is important for those who wish to modify, mix or create music. You will find that digital audio is a very popular subject on the web and the "buzz" can be overwhelming. To follow what’s going on, we refer you to these sources:

What is MP3 ?

MP3 is an audio compression technique that allows you to compress audio by a ratio of between 1:4 and 1:12 and still keep the original quality of the sound. The sound retains CD-like quality but files will be many times smaller than the original. Another advantage of MP3 is that it can be broken up into pieces, and each piece is still playable. The feature that makes this possible (headerless file format) also means that MP3 files can be made to stream across a network in real-time (assuming the playback bitrate and speed of the Internet connection are compatible). These features make MP3 ideal for transferring audio files over the Internet. The disadvantage of MP3 compression is that lots of processor power is required to encode and play files. A 16 bit sound card is required.

Who can play MP3 ?

Anyone with a 486 computer (Pentium recommended) with soundcard running Windows

Pop an audio CD into your Windows computer. Odds are, the Windows CD Player program launched itself, and you're listening to your CD. The dreaded auto-insert notification claims another victim. You cannot work the files on your CD until you can keep from playing. Now, you don't have to do this, but audio experts strongly recommend turning auto-insert notification off. In the words of one, "auto-insert notification screws everything up." Turn it off by going into Control Panel-- >System-->Device Manager. There you'll see a plus sign next to an icon designated "CD-ROM." Click on the "+" and you'll see your CD-ROM, CD-R, and/or DVD-ROM devices listed. Select one and right click on it; select "Properties." A dialog will pop up, and you should see tabs like "Drivers" and such. Click on "Settings," and remove the check from the box next to "Auto-insert notification." Repeat with each drive. Re-boot your system. You can skip that whole business and simply close the CD Player program, but you might be sorry later.

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