Started noticing scratches on some of my music CD’s and thus the question formed as to how I can backup these CD’s up in case of eventual complete failure. Yes I still have CD’s, but weirdly I don’t have a CD player anymore, just an external drive I use now and again.
Method #1 – Windows Media Player
Simply open Windows Media Player, press Alt to get the standard menu to appear and go to Tools > Options. This should bring up the Options window with various tabs of settings to go through. Look for “Rip Music”. Select your preferences, location of where the output files go and you’re done. Press Apply & OK.
After that you should see the option appear just above the track lists.
It might be greyed out due to not selecting any tracks, so after selecting the tracks you want to rip, press “Rip CD” and you’re all done.
Method #2 – Copy the Audio Disk for a 1:1, like for like copy
This method is just after one thing, exact copy of the disk. Using software such as CloneCD or ImgBurn to clone the disk and store that as a backup or clone the disk and store that as a backup, pure and simple. I have yet to fully explore and learn exact details and whether these software are indeed exact copies, however my disks still are fine so I have a bit more time, in the mean time I use the first method above and prefer to hide away the disk.
There are probably more methods I am not thinking of, if I come across any or find better software that I am satisfied with I’ll update this post. Good luck.