Quickly Convert Audiobook CDs to MP3 files (Audio book Mp3)

How to Rip an AUDIOBOOK CD to MP3 files

To start CD Extractor, select Start > Programs > CDex > CDex

CDEX CONFIGURATION: Setup Filenames

From the CDex menu, select: Options > Settings > Filenames [tab]

See the image below. The “Filenames Format” textbox describes how the MP3 files will be named and saved to the target folder. When converting MUSIC CD’s to MP3 files, I recommend the following identifier string:

%1\%Y %2~%1\%4~%2

My recommended string for MP3 Music files does the following

• AUTHOR FOLDER -> %1\ –> Creates a folder using the Author’s name. For example “C:\Steven King” Any Audiobooks ripped for this author will land in this author’s folder on the disc, for this rip session and for any audiobooks ripped in the future.
• ALBUM FOLDER -> %Y %2~%1\ –>creates a subfolder (under the author name) that contains first the album year, then the Album name, a tilde (~) and the author name. For example: \1956 The reason for including the album year first is so that Albums are listed chronologically in the author’s folder instead of being listed alphabetically by album name.
• TRACK TITLES -> %7-%4~%1 –> Creates a track name that is the two-digit track number with a leading zero, a dash, the track name, a tilde character (`) and the author’s name. The reason for beginning the file name with the track number so that MP3 players that play file names in alphabetical order will play tracks in the correct order. For example: 04-Hello World~James Mitchner

The following identifiers are available to dynamically create MP3 filenames:

• %1 Artist (Author) information
• %2 Album Title
• %3 Track number
• %4 Track name
• %5 CD Volume ID
• %6 CDDB ID
• %7 Track number with leading zero
• %8 Total number of tracks on the album
• %G ID3 Genre tag
• %Y ID3 Year tag
• %A Artist (Author) name, not affected by the Track/Artist (Author) split setting
• l, u and c prequalifier, which will format the strings to lower case, upper case and upper case of first character of every word
• The backslash (\) can be used to indicate what part will be used as a directory name. Beware that you shouldn’t have a backslash at the beginning or end of the filename option field. Nor should you specify the extension of the file.

WAV -> MP3 describes where the temporary WAV files will be stored. Use the same folder as “Recorded Tracks, ” below.

Recorded Tracks describes the target folder where the final MP3 files will be written. Filename format: %1\%Y %2~%1\%7 %4~%1

See the identifiers in the section above for an explanation of why to use this particular string.

You only need to complete the Filenames information once and it will be saved in the CDex program.

Bitrate: 48 kbps for smallest files (or choose 192kbps for better sound quality. Can you tell the difference?)

Mode: Mono for smallest files (choose stereo for larger files – if it’s spoken, is stereo necessary?)

Samplerate: 44100

You only need to do this once and your information will be saved in the CDex program.

Insert the audio CD and wait for the track list to populate.

Get Album and Song informationFrom the menu, select: CDDB > Read from MusicBrainz

The CDex program will attempt to get the album information and song names from the MusicBrainz online Internet database.

(OPTIONAL) If CDDB/MusicBrainz didn’t find album information, then you’ll have to type it in. complete the information about the album, then move the cursor to the main window and press [F2] to edit the track titles.

For AUDIO BOOKS – TWO IMPORTANT NAMING TIPS!

AUDIOBOOK ALBUM TITLE; Many Audiobook CD’s span multiple discs. To keep your discs in order,immediately after the title add the disc number and the total number of discs for the audiobook. For example, type, “Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone (1 of 8)”, indicating that this is the first disc of eight.

AUDIOBOOK TRACK NAMES: The tracks often do NOT have titles and often span multiple discs. So, name your tracks with a two digit disc number, a dash, then a two digit track number. For example 01-01, 01-02, 01-03, and so on. If you use this track naming method, it will be easier to play your tracks in correct order, even if you place all the tracks from all the audiobook CD’s into the same folder on your iPhone or MP3 player.

To begin the “Extraction” of CD to MP3, select: Edit > Select All or press [Ctrl]+A to select all tracks.

Then press [F9] to begin the Extraction (rip). Alternatively, you can select: Convert > Extract CD from the menu, or click the second button in the right column menu.

It takes about 3 minutes to rip a typical audio CD to MP3 files. When the extraction is complete, you can check the rightmost column to confirm that each track extracted correctly.