Some of the most widely used audio file formats are CDA, MP3, WAV and AU. In the CD Audio, the .cda file has the representation of the CD tracks and not the audio information. These representations are valid only for the CD-ROM. The .CDA files can only be played from a CD-ROM. They cannot be played from a computer hard disk by copying the .CDA files to hard disk. If the .CDA file is copied to another media such as hard disk, then the CD track representation is not valid for that media. Generally, commercial CDs use the CDA format for distribution. The CDA files have to be converted to another format, such as MP3, to store them in a different media. The CDA format has the higher sampling rate. The quality of audio is superior to other audio formats. The MP3 format has the advantage of higher compression without much loss of audio quality. The file size is smaller by 1/10 of its original size depending upon the bit rate setting. The MP3 file can be distributed in all media, such as CD-ROM, hard disk and any removable media. The file can be copied from one media to another. There are a lot of converters available to convert the .CDA format to .MP3 files. AltoMP3CD Ripper is freeware downloadable from the URL http:// www.yuansoft.com/AltoMP3_install.exe (1.55MB)
Xilisoft video converter is another utility that has a lot of audio and video conversions in addition to .CDA to MP3 conversion. You can download this from http://www.sharewareguide.net/ downloads/x-video-converter-41214.exe (15.7MB) Free CD to MP3 converter is yet another utility. This is compatible for Widows 2003 and Windows Vista also. http://www.qwerks.com/download/7779/ cdtomp3freeware.exe When converting .CDA files to MP3 files, please ensure that the bit rate setting is about 128 kbps. The higher the kbps setting, the higher the file size. Also, the quality of audio is better. Most of these conversion utilities offer the option to choose a range of bit rate setting.