Do you want to copy your favorite CD album to your computer, but always get thwarted by protection? Today, various types of CD protection are designed to prevent you from illegally copying CDs. Unfortunately, that protection also prevents you from making CD copies for justifiable reasons. However, there is now software available that you can use to work around this protection. Read step 1 below to learn how to rip any CD, from albums to game installation CDs.
Step
Method 1 of 2: Copying Protected Audio CDs
Step 1. Turn off autorun
In the past, most CD protection methods worked by installing intrusive software on your computer without your knowledge. Therefore, make sure you turn off autorun before inserting the CD you want to copy, to ensure that CD protection software is not installed.
To turn off autorun, you need to edit the registry in Windows. Read the guide to turn off autorun on the internet
Step 2. Download the ripping software
You can download various software that can help you copy protected CDs from the internet, such as dBpoweramp, EAC, and ISOBuster. If you need to create an image from an entire CD, read the next section of this guide.
- It's a good idea to use dBpoweramp to rip protected CDs, as this program has various options to work around this. However, you must first purchase the program to access all its functions.
- You can download ISOBuster for free. However, the program includes a lot of adware.
Step 3. Insert the CD into the computer
If autoplay is turned off, you can insert the CD right away, but if not, hold down the Shift key for 5 seconds while you close the drive drawer to prevent autoplay.
Step 4. Copy the song you want by following the guide according to the program you are using
You may need to try several methods until the song can be copied.
- If you are using dBpoweramp, click the Options button at the top of the window, then select Secure in the Ripping Method option. Click the Secure Settings option, then enable Ultra Secure Ripping. Once this option is enabled, it will take a lot longer to copy songs, but errors caused by CD protection will generally be resolved.
- If the above doesn't work, use the Defective by Design option from the Options' menu. This step will help you copy a CD that has been intentionally damaged as a form of copy protection.
- After setting up the program, select the songs you want to copy, and click the Rip button.
- If you're using ISOBuster, select the entire song you want to copy, then right-click on the song and select Extract Objects. Select a location to save the song, then wait for the process to complete.
Step 5. After copying the song, burn the song to a blank CD
Once a song is copied to a computer, it is no longer protected. Now, you can rip songs to CD with your favorite CD burning program, or add songs to your digital music library.
Read online guides for burning audio CDs
Method 2 of 2: Copying Protected Data CD
Step 1. Download a program to rip CDs
While you can rip an audio CD and burn its contents to a new CD in the above way, the steps for ripping a data CD or creating an identical image of an audio CD are slightly different. To rip a data CD or create an identical image of an audio CD, use a CD copy program.
Use CloneCD, the most popular and functional CD copying program. You can use CloneCD for free for 21 days, so you can rip CDs without paying. If you need to repeat the CloneCD trial period, remove and reinstall the program
Step 2. Create an image from the CD
When you start CloneCD, you will see four options. Choose the first option to create a CD image. When you create a CD image, the entire contents of the CD are copied into a single file, which can then be copied to a blank CD.
- In the next window. click the drive containing the CD you want to copy.
- After the CD analysis process is complete, select the type of CD according to the contents of the CD in the drive. You can choose between Audio CD, Data, Multimedia Audio, Game, or Protected Game.
- Select the location to save the CD image. The image will be sized according to the file on the CD. Therefore, prepare a storage space of about 800MB.
- After selecting the storage location, the image creation process will begin. Wait for the process to complete, and avoid opening other programs on the computer. The image creation process may take some time, and opening other programs may cause image errors.
Step 3. Burn the copied image
Once the image has been created, you can burn the image on a plain blank CD using CloneCD or another burning program, such as Nero or IMGBurn. For more information, read the internet's guide to burning CD images.
