CDex

CDex is a free, open source CD ripper that extracts audio tracks from music CDs and saves them as MP3, FLAC, WAV, OGG, or AAC files. It automatically identifies albums by querying the CDDB/freedb database, so track names, artist, and album info are filled in without manual typing. The LAME MP3 and FLAC encoders are built in. Windows only.

What it does

Insert an audio CD, and CDex reads the track list. Hit the CDDB button, and the program fetches album metadata from the internet - track titles, artist name, album name, year. Select the tracks you want, press F9, and they rip to your chosen format. You can set MP3 bitrate (128 to 320 kbps or VBR) in the encoder settings.

FLAC output preserves the original CD quality in a lossless compressed format. CDex also converts between audio formats without needing a CD - open an existing audio file and re-encode it to a different format.

Volume normalization evens out loudness across tracks so you do not have to adjust volume between songs from different albums.

Who it is for

CDex is a quick, no-fuss CD ripper for people who still have music CD collections. It gets the job done for casual ripping to MP3 or FLAC. For audiophile-grade archival with error correction, Exact Audio Copy (EAC) is more thorough but harder to set up. CDex is the faster option when perfect accuracy is not the priority.