First of all, make sure that your CD-ROM is not set for digital audio extraction. Current copy protection technology works on the digital stream, and that is often where other ripping problems come in as well, so you want to set your computer to play music using analog technology instead. This varies from one OS to another - look for your operating system below to find out how.

• Windows 95 and Windows NT - Not necessary.

• Windows 98 - Double click the My Computer icon, then go to Control Panel, Multimedia, and select the CD-Music tab. "Enable Digital CD-Audio for this CD-ROM device" should be cleared for all drive letters that are to be used. Some machines might have it grayed out - that's okay, nothing needs to be done in those cases.

• Windows ME - Go to the Device Manager (Right click on My Computer, select Properties, go to the Device Manager tab), find the CD-ROM device, double click on it, and on the properties tab, "Enable Digital CD-Audio for this CD-ROM device" checkbox should be cleared. This should be done for all the CD-ROM devices that are to be used.

• Windows 2K, XP - Go to the device manager (Right click on My Computer, select Properties, Go to the Hardware tab, Press the Device Manager button), in the device manager, find the CD-ROM device, double click on it, and on the properties tab, "Enable Digital CD-Audio for this CD-ROM device" checkbox should be cleared. This should be done for all the CD-ROM devices that are to be used.

Analog ripping is basically recording each track as a wave file, by simultaneously playing it and recording it using RipEditBurnPlus. Put the audio CD in your computer and play it with one of the following programs:

• Your computer's CD Player - open this by following the path Start->Programs->Accessories->Entertainment->CD Player

• The older style media player (in Windows 95, 98, ME and NT 4) - click Start, then Run. Type "mplayer" and press ok. That will bring up the media player. Then go to the Device Menu and choose CD Audio. Play your CD.

• Windows Media Player - (may conflict with Blaze Audio's programs on some systems) If you use Window Media Player, you'll want to set it so that it doesn't do digital playback by clicking the Tools menu and selecting Options, then CD Audio.

• Blaze Audio RipEditBurn Plus - yes, you can even do this process in one program, using the "audition" option in the Rip module.
• The player program that was included with the CD
• Any CD player program from the internet

A note: if your copy protected CD won't play in your computer at all, analog ripping won't work. We can only suggest you return it as defective!

Next, in RipEditBurn Plus, set your Record Source (press the button in the lower left corner of the interface - see Image 1). It should be either CD Player or Stereo Mix (or Line-in if you are connecting to an external CD player) - test to find out by pressing Record while the CD is playing. If you see the indicator lights moving in the upper left corner of the interface (Image 2), you've found the right record source. Set it to record at 16 bits, 44.1 KHz stereo.

The final step before recording is to test and set the record volume. Press the red Record button in RipEditBurn Plus while the CD is playing. Watch the LEDs in the upper left portion of the interface (see Image 2) just over the playback buttons.

These dancing lights are the level indicators and they show you at a glance if you are recording at too high or low a record volume. Set the volume so that they don't quite hit red at the very loudest portions of the music. You want to record as hot (loud) as possible, but if the record volume is too high the recorded sound will be distorted.

Note: If you are using RipEditBurn Plus to play the CD, first start recording, then click the Rip tab and audition the track you want. Don't go back to the Edit window until the track is done, or it will stop playing.

---

^Top of Page^