Copying CDs

Windows Media Player provides the ability to copy music from CDs onto your hard drive. 

Of course, you must respect copyrights. Only copy music from CDs which you have purchased, and do not share them with people who have not purchased the music.

This is very straightforward to do. Insert the CD that you want to copy from and click the "Copy from CD" button in Windows Media Player. A list of all of the music tracks on the CD will be displayed. Check the selections that you want, then click the "Copy Music" button. 

The first time you do this, the notice to the left will be displayed, warning about copy protection. If you want the music copy protected (unable to be played on any computer system except your own), uncheck the box. Otherwise, check the box. Then click OK.

The music tracks will be copied to the location for "My Music".

Changing location for "My Music"

By default all music is copied into the "My Music" folder on your system. Music copied from CDs is organized into folders by group and album, which I've found to be very convenient.

Windows Media Player automatically creates and maintains the appropriate folders to make it convenient for you to retrieve music.

You can change the location where the music files are stored by selecting "Options" from the "Tools" menu, clicking the "Copy Music" tab, then clicking the "Change" button" in the "Copy music to this location" section. You might, for example, want to store your music on a shared folder so that you can listen to the music on other computer systems. 

Disable Copy Protection

If you want to copy music off your CDs, you may do so. However, by default these music files will be copy protected, meaning they cannot be heard on any other computer system.

You can turn this off at any time by selecting "Options" from the "Tools" menu, then clicking the "Copy Music" tab. Clear the "Protect content" box and click OK to save the new setting.