by David Hakala

Converting Audio CD music to other file formats and saving them on your computer is called “ripping” the CD. Windows Media Player allows you to rip files from CD and save them in a variety of formats.

The most commonly used formats are MP3 and WAV. The WAV format is uncompressed so it provides the highest fidelity to the original music. But WAV files can be megabytes large. An MP3 file is up to 10 times smaller than a WAV file but loses some fidelity due to compression. Many users save WAV files for use on their local computers and make MP3 files when they plan to transfer files over the Internet.
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