does anyone know how i could rip/encode an entire cd as 1 mp3 file?....i'm planning on putting the Global Underground Collection on my PC.....just wondering how i can get each disc to = 1 mp3 file.....

If you have the bandwidth, download them from Audiogalaxy. They normally have a few people who have the bulk version.

get EAC, it let's you rip the CD to one .wav, which you can then convert to mp3 using LAME, which you can get at www.r3mix.net

EAC is here (free): http://www.exactaudiocopy.de/

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RetroActive 4

I found the much needed tutorial for EAC. There is also one for LAME. So check it out:

http://www.ping.be/satcp/tutorials.htm

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RetroActive 4

Record the Cd onto your computer using soundforge... hit the record button... when the thing comes up,make sure the levels are up but not to high(just touching red) hit new, make sure sample size is at least 16bit and channel is at stereo, then record. Now after recording to better the sound go to Process then Normalize... make sure Peak level is switched on, and scan levels are at 0.00dB (100%)... then save it... It will save as a wave file. Now what you want to do is get an mp3 encoder program like Audioactive Production Studio with that all you have to do is make sure under hardware you have the output format on mpeg layer 3 (MP3) selected then go to software and click add file and get your wav file that you saved and load it into the program, and hit encode... takes a bit of time, but by doin this your cd will still have amazing sound and your mp3 will be at 190kbps 44khz which you should know is great!!! If this seems hard to understand it's probably cause you don't have these programs, but if you do then it should be a breeze for you to do!!

Malice, I'm sure your method works, but it's not as good as mine.
EAC does digital audio extraction. That means you will have the EXACT material that is on the CD in your .wav
Recording always comes with sound loss. You see this problem yourself:"Now after recording to better the sound go to Process then Normalize... "
Also, normalizing can lead to loss of quality and I would not recommend normalizing to 100% when you want to convert the file to mp3, because this can lead to clipping. Only way around this is not normalizing or normalizing to 98% or using the newest LAME codec which has a switch to avoid clipping when encoding.
EAC looks complicated, but all you have to do is set your drive and extraction settings once, insert a CD and hit "copy image" button. Depending on your drive, EAC can extract up to 50x with NO quality loss. So you have your 75 min wav in 1:30 min.
LAME is easy to use as well. Click "add file", click "encode", done.
And both programs are free.

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RetroActive 4

Dj Dawn is 100% right about EAC and it's advantages over every other ripping program.

To make it simple to get up & running w/EAC+LAME, I made a "fully loaded" package with it all setup for you (it can be confusing for a novice to do themselves)... you just need a few steps to make it work properly:

1) Download my package from here: http://members.home.net/goodnet-rm/EAC+LAME.zip
2) Extract the zip file to a directory on your HD
3) Open EAC.exe from the directory, and goto EAC>Compression options>Click on "External Compression" tab>Click on "Browse" (where it says 'Program, including path, used for compression')
4) Locate & select lame.exe (it's in the same directory where you extracted the zip file!)
5) Click on OK

You only need to do the above steps one time! After that, it's all setup & easy for you to use.

To rip a track: highlight the track(s) you want, then click on Action>Copy Selected Tracks

To rip a whole CD into one large mp3: click on Action>Copy Range...> Now click "Ok" in the new popup box.

'hope this works for you... If you need any help with this, don't hesitate to ask here! Or use the tutorial site that Dj Dawn posted here.