Many MP3 programs such as MusicMatch Jukebox and Media JukeBox contain both rippers and encoders which can bypass the intermediate WAV stage and convert the raw audio CD straight to MP3. In this section, you will find reviews of freeware CD rippers for both Windows and Mac platforms. If you're using or have used any of these software and want to share your opinion, please fill in the Contact form and tell me about it. You should look for CD ripper that support digital recording. Well, most programs do anyway.
Digital recording is the process of recording from a digital source to a digital output.
It doesn't requires the file to pass through an analog soundcard. However, this may cause some deterioration in the final sound quality because the signal has to be converted to an analog signal by your CD ROM, which is then fed into the sound card and digitized. If your CD ROM has a digital output, you won't have this problem. Ripping is faster than encoding. The more RAM you have the better.