CD RippingCD Ripping is the name given to the process of extracting digital audio from an audio CD, audio is extracted by a computer and saved as one of many available audio formats, such as mp3, wma or ogg vorbis (lossy formats), or a lossless format such as FLAC, Wavpack, Apple Lossless or Windows Media Audio Lossless. A special program is needed to rip audio CDs, which is known as a CD Ripper.Despite the name Ripping, nothing destructive happens to the Audio CD whilst ripping. Ripping on modern CD drives takes place up to x52 (52 times faster than normal playback speed), although commonly x20 to x30 is more realistic. A 60 minute CD ripped at x20 would rip in 3 minutes! Ripping is slower for track 1 than it is for the last track, a point on the inside of the CD (where track 1 is) travels slower than a point on the outside of the CD. There are rare CD drives which have a constant ripping speed for the entire CD, but 99.9% of CD drives start slowly and speed up for later tracks.A common miss-belief is that an exact reproduction cannot be obtained unless audiophile $$$$ equipment is used. Even a $20 CD drive can rip audio 100% without error, this has been shown to be true millions of times through the use of AccurateRip, an online database of ripping results from people around the world which can inform if a rip was without error.RippingIllustrates own CD Ripper is the corner stone ofdBpoweramp Music Converter's anddBpoweramp Reference suite of audio tools, designed to meet the needs of hobbyist, enthusiast of audio professional, one ripper catering to all needs:Digitally  record audio CDs without quality loss,Secure  our extensive tests highlight CD ripper as thesecurest of the secure, Fastdo not waste your time waiting for your CDs to rip,CD Ripper is as fast as possible,  Encoders built using dBpoweramp's codecs, we support practically every type of audio compression!  Meta DataCD Ripper not only retrieves CD track names and extended information (such as label, rating, composer), but also album art work,DSP Effectssuch as ReplayGain, Volume Normalize, or Graphic EQ [Power Pack Option],Multi-CPU Aware every last ounce of CPU horsepower is used [Reference Option], Profiles store complete configuration settings with profiles, one for quick ripping, one for archiving securely  [Reference Option],Advanced C2 pointers, audio cache flushing or elimination, CD-Text, UPC and ISRC, a Ripper with all advanced features  [Power Pack / Reference Options], All Windows from Windows 98 to XP and Vista, all supported.Read why dBpoweramp's CD ripper should be your first choice when choosing a CD ripper.Audio CD CharacteristicsInvented by Philips & Sony in 1980 the audio CD was a revolution, compared to the previous format: tapes. Instant access (no rewinding), no loss of quality over time (as long as the CD was looked after).The audio specification for an audio CD is 44100 Hz (samples per second), Stereo and 16 bits. New to samples, bits and frequency? readS