I copied some cds onto my hardrive using a musicmatch program (came with my Dell). Anyway, the quality seems very poor. Okay at low volumes, but distorted w/ the volume up. MP3 and WMV files both sound p. poor. What's the best format/recorder/player for sound quality, and how do I get it? Thanks.

If you're going to do uncompressed audio (best quality), use EAC (http://www.exactaudiocopy.de/).

If you're going to do compressed audio, Ogg-Vorbis (http://www.vorbis.com/) seems to be the general consensus. It won't play on an iPod, or lots of other PDMP's. Otherwise, use iTunes (http://www.apple.com/itunes/download/) and set your import settings to at least 44.1KHz sample rate, 192Kbps bit rate, no VBR, normal stereo.

As always, YMMV.

Stewie, are you ripping the CD's into .wav files or into compressed .mp3 files? I've used MusicMatch 5 to do all my ripping and converting since 2001 on two different pc's and all the files all sound great unless they're .mp3's at too low a bit rate (<96kbps).
Tom

I too use Musicmatch for ripping and burning and have no problems ..

I use v.9.0 deluxe with On-Demand...and I love it...and the DFX plug-in helps make the MP3s sound like they're supposed to...