1 CDex. Go ahead and grab the beta; I tried it and never looked back. You may want to chase down an ASPI DLL, but you don't actually have to. Just set the ripping method to "paranoia (full)" and you enjoy the full CDparanoia library's proven quality ripping technique under Windows.

2 iTunes?

3 1) free is the operative word.
2) Considering the intrusive nature of Apple products, I'd rather drop an enraged wombat down the front of my pants.
3) Free is the operative word.

I d/l'd CDex... and left the file sitting in my 'takehome' folder at the Duck U. Bookstore. Feh. I'll give it a look, though!

4 If that isn't to your liking, try the Free CD Ripper from http://koyotstar.free. fr/indexEn.html (Address altered 'cause the spam filter don't like it)

I've had it for several years now, and I love it (when I'm not using Windows Media Player, anyway).

5 iTunes is free. (The software.) The other point is valid, of course.

It does work pretty well as a CD ripper, though.

6 So does Windows Media Player, I've discovered. I feel creepy using it, however, so I'm still looking for suggestions!

7 The gold standard for free (as in beer) ripping programs is Exact Audio Copy. You'll need to get LAME as well if you want to rip to MP3.

8 Y'know, I've never understood that phrase, "free as in beer"...

9 Free (as in beer) versus free (as in speech).

10 But... but... beer isn't FREE!

I cornfuzzled.

11 Yeah, I summed up when I should have explained.

From Wikipedia:
In hacker slang, gratis is typically referred to as free as in beer while libre is referred to as free as in speech.[1][2]

Free as in beer refers to things which are available at no monetary cost (like free beer at a party). While one is permitted to utilize the object, one is not permitted to possess, modify, or reproduce the object. In the "free beer" scenario, this equates to being permitted to drink the beer, but neither to leave the party with the beer, nor to tamper with someone else's beer, nor to brew one's own beer; in the computer software scenario, gratis allows the user to install and operate the software, but neither to rebrand the software, nor to alter its method of operation, nor to create copies of the software for distribution.

By contrast, the expressions free as in speech, free as in freedom, and free as in rights, refer to something which is free of any and all restrictions, as in the freedom of speech. One is permitted to use the object, reproduce it, repurpose it, and generally do what one will with it; usually the only restrictions applied are that credit be given to any entity that contributed to any resulting object and that such object be free as in speech as well. An example of a license with such grants and conditions is the Creative Commons Attribution Share-Alike license.

12 Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh... now it becomes clear.

Very cool, thank you, JP!

13 So what it really means is "free as in not like beer".

14 Origins of words and phrases has always been an interest of mine, and the interweb has made researching things a lot easier.

15 Comment #1006:

Not everything on the Web is true or correct, unfortunately.
http://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2005/12/16

16 I will second a comment made above (part of the original topic): Exact Audio Copy & LAME are definitely the most high quality CD to MP3 approach I've ever heard.