How To Copy CD without Losing Quality?

Does anyone know an easy way for me to copy my CDs onto blank ones without losing any quality?

Thanks

You should be able to use any CD burning software to copy from a CD to a blank without any loss - all you are doing is copying the raw digital bits from one disc to another.

Thanks Gonk - I think you're right. The computer I'm using is new (company laptop) and I didn't know what burning software was on it.

So I popped in a CD and one of the options was 'Copy CD using Sonic...' I looked into it and I think it will make an exact copy.

I guess this was an elementary question, but up until now, I have just imported music into 320kbps MP3s for my Ipod - now I'd like to have copies, but also maintain original quality.

Thanks again.

Copying the CD that way should work just fine. The goal is to avoid compression or other unpleasant manipulation.

Some folks have chosen to archive music to their computers using WAV files, which avoids any compression - that will let you preserve all of the original quality of the CD. There are also some lossless compression formats (FLAC being one of the more popular), which should basically give you the same results as WAV files assuming the player you use supports these formats. Both approaches use a lot more disc space than MP3 or other lossy compression, and many MP3 players offer minimal support for lossless - iPods will do AAC Lossless and I think WAV files, but it won't handle FLAC or WMA Lossless as far as I know.

Another way to do it is to get a duplicator. Got mine from an online seller on ebay. Can't remember the name of company. it copies CD-CD and DVD-DVD if no copy protection. I dub movies off satellite onto a DVD recorder and copy them to blanks for my kids. Mine is a 2-target machine. Reasonably priced. Just punch it up and go. Leaves the computer alone for other things.

I tried this once and it worked great. If you know Linux (or know a friend who knows Linux), it is not difficult at all to create digital images of your music CDs and build a digital jukebox.
But to answer your original question, once you have an image of the CD, all you should need to do is to burn that image back to a blank. This is fairly easily done with software available for just about any operating system you might use.

Note: There is the Audio Home Recording Act to keep in mind, so please burn responsibly.

If you want to extract single tracks, like Gonk said, FLAC is the way to go.

Good luck.

Excellent.

Thanks again for the help guys.

I know what to do and all you need a good PC with the plextor drive use good software, good media, etc.

First, I suggest you use a Plextor drive, That are the best for DAE. Next, place youe cd in the drive and use Exact Audio Copy and rip the tracks to full wav files and a CUE sheet file. I suggest useing Taiyo Yuden discs. Burn the CD by using the CUE sheet file in EAC. You may also use Nero to burn the wav files.

You do NOT need so high price cd copy unit. This method is so good, my nut case audiophiles friends are pleased.

Liz