Copying Music to and from a CD Using Windows Media Player

Since Windows Media Player ships free with Microsoft XP it provides the simplest way to copy music to or from a CD using your computer. Windows Media Player can be accessed through the Start menu: Start->Programs->Accessories->Entertainment->Windows Media Player.

Copy Music from CD to your computer using Windows Media Player
To copy your music you will need to open the CD copy window. Depending on your version of Media Player you will need to either click on the “Copy from CD” tab on the left, click on the “Rip” button on the toolbar at the top or go to View->Go To->Copy from CD. If you have not already you can now insert your audio CD in the CD drive and a list of songs on the CD will be displayed in the CD copy window. 

Make sure the songs you want to copy have check marks in the check boxes to the left of the title. Click in the check box to add or remove a check mark. Now you are ready to copy the songs selected. 

Click the “Copy Music” button on the toolbar at the top. At the bottom of the window you should notice a line that reads something similar to “# tracks checked to copy to C:\Documents and Settings\My Documents\My Music”, the “#” will go to “0” when all songs are copied. The “Copy Music” button will change to “Stop Copy” while the copying, after the copy the button will return to “Copy Music” but may be grayed out. Each song will also show a copy status bar to the right of the title as it is being copied. 

The songs selected have now been copied to your computer and have been added to the Windows Media Player Media Library. To access the Media Library you can either click on the Media Library tab to the left, or go to View->Go To->Media Library. The songs will be stored together under the album or artist name