IMO, one of the easiest, most secure (and free ) ways is to extract the full CD with Exact Audio Copy (EAC), configured for ripping in secure mode.

Using the function Copy Image & Create CUE sheet, you create one large WAV file and a small CUE, which is essentially a small text file containing the song time positions and eventually CD-Text.

The CUE/WAV combo allows you to do a lot of things. Some of them are:

• burning an exact copy of the original CD using most burning softwares (EAC itself, Nero, Plextools XL, ...)
• mounting them as a virtual CD using e.g. Daemon-Tools, so that you can listen to the CD with your favorite software CD player
• splitting the large WAV file (using EAC's function Split WAV by CUE Sheet) into WAVs containing the individual tracks: in this way you can create e.g. MP3s or FLACs (lossless) of single songs, make CD compilations, etc.

Another option would be of course ripping directly into splitted WAVs, but I personally prefer the method above.

Of course, using softwares like Nero you can create a NRG disk image (and the same with other programs, DiskJuggler, CloneCD, etc.) which can be mounted in the same way using Daemon-Tools, but IMO the CUE/WAV combo is the most transparent and convenient way to store audio data.

If you want to know more about the wonderful EAC, visit the Coaster Factory for lots of useful tutorials about the program.

BTW, welcome to the forums b1gman!

Regards,

ET