Ripping CD by iTunes

Step One: Check your iTunes settings

By default, iTunes will import (or rip) CD tracks using the AAC encoder at 256 kbps. If you’d like to change the encoding settings—either to save more space by choosing a smaller bit rate such as 128 kbps or to get a higher quality file by choosing a lossless encoder such as Apple Lossless or AIFF—choose Preferences from the iTunes menu and click the General tab.To change the import settings, click on the appropriately named Import Settings button. In the resulting Import Settings window you can choose AAC Encoder, AIFF Encoder, Apple Lossless Encoder, MP3 Encoder, or WAV Encoder from the Import Using pop-up menu.

Step Two: Insert and select a CD

Insert a music CD into your Mac’s media drive. By default, iTunes will launch, the CD’s name will appear in iTunes’ Source list and be selected, and the CD’s track names will appear in iTunes’ main window.

If the CD’s track names don’t appear it either means that your computer isn’t able to communicate via the Internet (which is how iTunes obtains album, artist, and track names) or the CD is one that’s not recognized by iTunes (a “mix tape” CD a friend has created, for example). For those CDs that don’t have track names automatically added, you can click on individual titles and add names manually.

Also, by default, a window appears that reads:

Would you like to import the CD “name of CD” into your iTunes library?

Click Yes to import all the individual tracks on the CD or No if you’d prefer to not import the tracks at all (or do it at another time).

If you click No and later wish to import the tracks from the CD, select the CD in iTunes’ Source list and at the bottom-right of the iTunes window click on the Import CD entry. iTunes will begin ripping the CD and adding the tracks to the iTunes library.

If you’d like iTunes to rip just selected tracks, uncheck the tracks that you don’t want to rip.

Step Three: Optionally join tracks

There may be times when you want to combine multiple tracks into a single track. For example, if you have an audiobook CD that includes lots of short files that you’d like to play as a single larger file, or a series of live songs that segue smoothly and you’d like to keep together. To combine tracks, simply select the files you want to join and choose Join from iTunes’ Advanced menu. iTunes will place a bracket next to the tracks that will be joined when you click Import CD.

http://www.macworld.com/article/1156861/howto_rip_cds.html