10488 You can play audio CDs on your computer using the optical drives and QuickTime player or iTunes, but you'll probably want to convert the tracks on your CDs, at least of favorite recordings, to a digital format such as MP3 AAC, AIFF, WAV, or Apple Lossless for more compact storage and for transfer to your iPod or iPhone.

The latter three mentioned formats offer better fidelity than MP3 or AAC, but will result in larger file sizes. You can specify the ripped file format in iTunes>Preferences>Advanced. Select the Importing tab and choose the desired format from the Input Using pop-up menu.

When you insert an audio CD into your computer's optical drive and iTunes is launched, the CD will show up in the iTunes Source panel at the far left of the interface window. With the CD selected as your source, it will most likely be labeled "Audio CD" and its various tracks as "Track 1," "Track 2," and so forth. This generic naming can cause confusion, especially if you are importing a lot of CDs in a session, since tracks for any CD will be saved as "Track 1," "Track 2", etc..

To address this issue, you can manually rename each track by highlighting it in the iTunes window. The CD case will usually have the appropriate information to enter identifying each track.

The alternate method is to go online and let iTunes attempt to import the names of your CD's tracks from Gracenotes CD database, which, if your CD is listed there (most are), will transmit the appropriate data for naming your tracks that iTunes can display.

You can also rip CDs when you're offline and then import the track names for the from the CD database later on.

From iTunes' Advanced menu, select Get CD Track Names. Select the tracks you want to rename, and iTunes will do its stuff.

Once the track title matter is intended to, you can also specify which tracks you want to import, using the check boxes beside each track's name. A time saver if you only want to import one or two songs from an album is to Command - Click any box, which will deselect all tracks, and then just select the ones you want.

When everything he is configured to your satisfaction, click the Import CD button in the upper right corner of the iTunes window, and let the program do its stuff. The tracks will be read sequentially, and deposited in Home> Music>iTunes>iTunes Music Folder. Ripping takes place in the background, so you can proceed with other tasks while it is happening.

A green check mark will appear beside each track in the list when it has been successfully imported, and when all tracks are completed, a chime will sound to notify you. The newly imported tracks will appear in your iTunes Library.

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Charles W. Moore

Tags: iPod ï iPod How To ï

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