14 DAY TRIAL // Remember the old days when you walked around with a huge portable cassette player and later on with a not too small CD player? Well, now you walk around and listen to your favorite music on a small MP3 player or a similar device that has a few grams in weight. We all know that's a fact, but another reality is that not too long ago we looked at the CD as it was the ultimate support for audio files, we bought albums in this format in bunches and now we're stuck with the piles. What to do, then, with all those audio CDs? Simply rip them to a digital format.
To do that simple operation you need, nevertheless, dedicated software. You need an application that can decode audio CDs and then encode the tracks in a popular format such as MP3, WMA, OGG or whatever you like. However, this shouldn't be a problem because there are plenty of audio rippers that can do the job. For some audio rippers you have to pay; others, like Express Rip, are free.
To be more exact, Express Rip is an application that will allow you to extract digital audio tracks from audio CDs directly into a variety of audio file formats. By using direct digital extraction, the pure audio quality is maintained and the speed of Express Rip puts it on the charts.
When you install Express Rip, you can also get some additional utilities for audio editing, converting recording and burning. If you don't need them at this time, you can download and install them later by using the shortcuts that will appear in the start menu. You don't need to worry about them occupying unwanted space and cluttering the start menu because they are all grouped together.
With a friendly interface and having the most frequently used commands in the right places, Express Rip is very easy to use by all users: advanced, intermediate or beginners. If you are more comfortable using the keyboard, then you should be happy to know that Express Rip has shortcut keys for most of its functions. Also, you can run Express Rip from the Windows command line.
The encoding (ripping) options are plenty, but if you don't want or you are not sure if you should change the default settings, it's no problem because Express Rip is preset to provide quality output audio. Should you find yourself in the situation where Express Rip cannot detect any audio tracks on your CD, make sure the audio files have a .cda file extension, otherwise the program will not read them properly.
Once you load the CD, Express Rip immediately connects to the Internet and searches free DB Online Album Database for available information about the music tracks. If you don't want it to perform this check, this function can be deactivated in the options menu. After the few seconds it takes to locate the information (if any is available), Express Rip selects all the available files on the disc and, with only one click, you can extract the audio files to your computer.
In case you want to change and adjust the program to meet your exact requirements, this can be done in a few minutes. Express Rip will allow you to change the track names, customize the artist, genre and album information in a flash. With Express Rip you can also listen to the music tracks directly from the CD, the only downside being the lack of forward/rewind controls. But this is not, by all means, a major inconvenience because the main function of the application is to extract the music, so the player is actually an extra facility.
Before starting to convert the audio CD, Express Rip lets you adjust the volume for the output to the preferred level so if the tracks are barely audible you can increase the volume or do the opposite if needed. The encoder can be configured to obtain the highest audio quality and the 20 available output formats offered by Express Rip will undoubtedly please most, if not all, users.
The actual ripping process takes very little time, as the speed is one of the strong points of Express Rip. Also, you don't have to worry about memory usage because Express Rip uses very little resources, so you can do whatever you want on your PC and never be bothered by the decoding/encoding activity.
The resulting audio files sound great, without any distortion so you will be quite pleased with this tool that can transfer music from audio CDs to the computer easily, quickly and maintaining the quality at the same time.
The Good
Express Rip is very easy to use, with all the settings needed for ripping audio CDs. The quality of the output files is very good and the processing speed is one of the best I've seen. Another plus for Express Rip is its small size and the fact that it uses little system resources when ripping the CDs.
The Bad
There is no actual downside about Express Rip, but I would have liked to see more buttons in the interface for functions such as the selecting and deselecting of the tracks. But that's more a personal preference than a drawback of Express Rip.
The Truth
Express Rip does very well and very fast exactly what it's supposed to do: rip audio CDs. No hassle, just speed and excellence for the conversion. As it's also free, Express Rip can easily become a definite keeper.
Here are some snapshots of the application in action:
