need advice on best pc music software

[nathan]

my mother being a teacher has just been given a brand new dell laptop. tis wicked. But being mainly a mac person and using the most excellent itunes i was wandering about a few things.

1) what is the best (preferably free but not essentially mp3 jukebox type software

2) when ripping mp3's from cdr files do you guys use media player or should i be using something else?

[butty]

lol them wink smileys make me laff they can say so much without actually sayin it

ps moved 2 help

[wildpitch]

For ripping - Exact Audio Copy is the don when used with Lame Encoder.

www.exactaudiocopy.de

For playing your rips - If it's a new laptop with XP slap Windows Media Player 9 on it. It's probably not the absolute best but it's enough for me.

[RetroAndy]

I use sound stream or audiocatalyst for ripping never had any problems. You could d/l easy cd creator platinum from kazaa. I acn't remember were i got audio catalyst from i think my mate got it for me. I also swear by winamp for mp3 playing, i am using version 3 at the mo and its spot on. You can get it free :p from
www.winamp.com

Hope this helps

Cheers Andy

[Myk]

Yeah I suppose Winamp is as good as any for listening purposes, as for ripping mp3's Ive tried loads but nothing has come close to the speed and quality that CDEx offers and best of all its totally free, here :

http://www.cdex.n3.net/