CD audio grabbers are designed to extract (“rip”) the raw digital audio (in a format commonly called CDDA) from a compact disc to a file or other output. This type of software enables a user to encode the digital audio into a variety of formats, and download and upload disc info from freedb, an internet compact disc database.
Is copying CDs legal? Under US copyright law, converting an original CD to digital files for personal use has been cited as qualifying as ‘fair use’. However, US copyright law does not explicitly allow or forbid making copies of a personally-owned audio CD, and case law has not yet established what specific scenarios are permitted as fair use. The copyright position is much clearer in the UK. From 2014 it appeared it would legal for UK citizens to make copies of CDs, MP3s, DVD, Blu-rays and e-books. But this change in the law did not happen. For countries in the European Union, member nations can allow a private copy exception.
If you are not sure what the position is for the country you live in, please check your local copyright law to make sure that you are on the right side of the law before using the software featured in this two page article.
To some extent, it may seem a bit of a chore to rip CDs. Streaming services like Spotify and Google Play Music offer access to a huge library of music in a convenient form, and without having to rip your CD collection. However, if you already have a large CD collection, it is still desirable to be able to convert your CDs to enjoy on mobile devices like smartphones, tablets, and portable MP3 players.
Our recommendations are captured in the chart below. All are free and open source software.
| GUI Audio Grabbers | |
|---|---|
| fre:ac | Audio converter and CD ripper supporting popular formats and encoders |
| Asunder | Audio CD ripper and encoder |
| grip | CD player and CD ripper for Gnome |
| ripperX | Graphical interface for ripping CD audio tracks and encoding them |
| Sound Juicer | Lean CD ripper using GTK+ and GStreamer |
| Audex | Easy to use open source audio CD ripping application |
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