Rip or Copy?

iTunes comes in versions compatible w mac or pc. There are DACs that accept a USB input from your pc and many of the smaller/less expensive ones like the AQ Dragonfly or the HRT II+ offer very good SQ. You can try computeraudiophile.com for more information.

Thanks Swampwalker. I will check it. (Ive been an avid backcountry hiker +skier; if there were swamps here I'd be out in them, fishing and hunting. I'm assuming your name is related.)

It seems that exactaudiocopy is for Windows only.

JRiver and XLD are for Mac and easy to use.
(I only found exactaudiocopy in beta test).

"02-27-15: Ptss
Thanks again. I have about a 3/4 yr old Lenovo laptop. I'll check the model and details tonight. Isn't iTunes just for apple?"

You can use iTunes for Windows, but unless you really need to for some reason, I wouldn't. iTunes seems to have a mind of its own when it comes to tagging, and it doesn't support some of the very popular codex's like FLAC, for commercial reasons. For the time being, you can download a free program called Foobar2000. It can do everything iTunes can do and more. Jriver is nice. I have that one as well, but you have to pay for it and its really not necessary just yet. Its very easy to switch from one player to the next. Right now, I would be concerned with properly ripping your CD's.

Your laptop is OK for ripping. EAC has a calibration feature for your optical drives. If, for some reason, something is wrong with it and can't get perfect rips, the software will tell you. I use a $25 Asus DVD drive I bought from Tiger Direct. Its works fine for this.

Ptss- I'm a consulting wetland scientist.