CD ripping or digital audio extraction (DAE) bypasses your sound card to read audio data directly. You can save the data as WAV files which faithfully reproduce the audio content: while these files can be used for a variety of applications, their most common use is in making MP3 files, which retain near-CD sound quality in a highly compressed format.

In order to produce MP3 files, you need to provide a suitable encoder (either a DLL or an external program): Audiograbber's well-designed user interface includes an encoder front-end that makes it easy to set recording parameters. Other features include a built-in CD player, playlist and ID3 tag editors, tools for getting track titles and other info from CDDB, an Internet CD database (http://www.cddb.com/), an MP3 player interface, and a right-click menu for quick access to several track management functions.

Audiograbber's strongest point is the number of options for maximising recording quality -- you can normalise recording volume using sophisticated audio compression techniques, set many CD reading parameters, compare an output WAV with the CD data, choose from several read modes and use ASPI or MSCDEX calls to read audio data. It pays to experiment to find the best options for your drive.

Quite a few drives don't support ripping at all: Audiograbber allows you to use analog recording, but it's slower than DAE and the results depend on the quality of your soundcard.

MusicMatch Jukebox (MMJB) gives you the option of using its own player or Winamp. The MMJB player could be more attractive, but provides CD-style operation and access to other modules -- playlist window, recorder, music library and track info window -- and the Internet CDDB.

MMJB's recorder is outstanding: it saves in MP3, WAV, or Real Audio format, offers error correction and a wide selection of bit rates, and includes a Variable Bit Rate option which gives good results but isn't supported by many players. MP3 encoding is exceptionally fast, a welcome development.

The Music Library is a powerful tool for managing an MP3 collection, but really shines in the fast creation of playlists. MP3 files are added to the Library when you record them, and you can add existing files by reading their directories. If your files have ID3 tags, their contents are inserted automatically, and when making your own recordings you can use MMJB's CDDB tool to insert similar data from the Internet.

In addition to the main ID3 fields (artist, album, track title and genre), library records include tempo, mood, situation and preference fields. You can sort on any field, and quickly edit records using pull-down menus for the non-ID3 fields, which can be customised by editing a text file to add/delete fields or change the menu options.

You can create playlists manually by double-clicking or drag and dropping your selections to a separate playlist window, but automated creation is a much better way, thanks to the AutoDJ, a wizard which allows you to specify the length of the music program and assign multiple selection criteria.

When an MP3 is playing, Pam's default display shows track data (length, mode and sampling rates), time left or elapsed, and volume levels: it also shows any data available from an ID3 tag. It has controls for adjusting volume and balance, plus buttons with the usual CD-player functions.

Pam handles multiple MP3 files, and supports the pls and m3u playlist formats. It has a straightforward playlist editor and several other tools, including an ID3 tag editor and a 24-hour timer.

The user interface includes a handy right-click menu and an extensive set of keyboard controls. As with other popular players, Pam's appearance can be changed completely by using 'skins'. Only a couple accompany the program, but you can download many more from the author's site, along with a utility to create your own.

MP3 Manager makes heavy use of ID3 tags, and the program won't be much use if you've been collecting files without them (unless you feel like doing a lot of keying). ID3 info constitutes the first six fields of the Manager's comprehensive records -- track name, artist, album, year, comment and genre. Other fields include sampling rate, track length, file size, assorted information extracted from Lyrics3 tags (a format for which Winamp support is available) and path name.

Database creation and maintenance is simple: the program carries out a fast recursive search on all your drives to track down every MP3 file on your system. Sorting is available on all fields, and you can create multiple-key sorts on up to four fields. You can quickly copy, move or delete tracks, edit most fields and invoke several mass-editing functions. If you have MP3 files on CD, the Manager records their contents in a separate CD cache which can keep track of multiple CDs, ensuring that they need only be catalogued once.

The Manager is most useful as a high-powered playlist manager: a combination of database and selection tools, plus the ability to save favourite selections gives you far more options than any player can provide. Its toolbar includes a full set of player controls: the downside is that it currently supports only three MP3 players (Winplay, NAD and Winamp).

Loaded sounds are displayed as waveforms (two waves for a stereo sample); you can zoom in and out, mixing or merging samples by cutting and pasting, with access to a second sample stored on the clipboard. You can work with several samples simultaneously by running multiple instances of the program, providing the equivalent of a multitrack recorder. As with just about every other function, you have numerous options and full control during mixing, including special effects like modulating one sample with another.

Cool Edit is well equipped for finetuning samples, offering amplification, compression, stretching, noise reduction and FFT filtering. It has useful analytical tools, including a sound spectrograph, frequency analyser and key sample statistics; it can also generate a range of standard waveforms, which can be frequency-modulated and/or undergo frequency transitions to create sound effects.