Extracting audio files

[mikf]

As some of you may be aware from my previous posts, my younger brother passed away last year, and left behind a legacy of original song compositions. I have now been quite successful ( with some guidance from here) in extracting all these songs from his current Cubase files. But recently I also found a couple of CDs with songs he had already extracted. I cannot find the original audio files, so need to extract them from the CDs. Can anyone here provide me some pointers on how to do this?
Mike

[Joe H]

Mike,

Your brother sounds like a professional soft rock artist. How old was he when he recorded those songs?

I use the free CD Ripper to convert CDs I own to MP3s or WAV.  You can set the MP3 bit rate quality too.

http://www.accmeware.com/download.html

Joe H

[mikf]

Thanks Joe. That software seems the easy way. My Mac pro doesn't have a CD player so I will have to get an external CD drive.
Not sure when he recorded the first one maybe just sometime in the last few years, but I know he was working on the second one when he was ill and knew he was terminal, so he was just short of 70. I think the difference in his demeanor is reflected in the lyrics.
He had not played in bands since he was a teenager and his songwriting and recording was purely a hobby. He built the recording studio himself, and I don't just mean the sound equipment, he did the brickwork, cabinet work everything, and it was a work of art. He was a quiet, unassuming patient man but a perfectionist who didn't care how long things took. And he faced this terrible disease without complaint. I miss his quiet one line humor more than anything.
Mike

[Joe H]

I believe CD Ripper is only available for Windows computers.

I can relate to your brother.   I do things very similar to what you describe about him.  I started recording myself and others as a teenager. In both my business and my hobbies if I don't have a tool, I make one.  I built my first PC from scratch buying a case and components... putting it all together. I have been building things since I was about 4 years old starting with plastic blocks, Lincoln Logs, ticker toys and an erector set. As a teenager I built a radio cabinet, then a mini bike and a go cart. In high school in electronics class I made several electronic gadgets.  It's in my blood so to speak. As a professional I have built furniture for 30 years.  And I make stuff for my wife occasionally and built my MIDI studio as well.

Joe H