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8.3. Playing and Extracting Audio CDs
Sound Juicer is the default application available in Ubuntu for playing and extracting audio compact discs (CDs). It is an easy-to-use CD player and ripping tool that requires minimal user intervention in playing and extracting audio CDs. Using Sound Juicer, you can play audio tracks directly from the CD and extract audio tracks and convert them into audio files. Sound Juicer allows you to extract audio files into the following three formats:
• Ogg Vorbis: Ogg vorbis is a free, unpatented and open source alternative to the proprietary MP3 format. Like the MP3 format, it discards parts of the sound that humans cannot normally hear. An Ogg Vorbis file is typically a tenth of the size of a WAV format file containing the same content.
• FLAC: FLAC stands for Free Lossless Audio Codec. It is an unpatented, open source audio format. Unlike MP3 or Ogg Vorbis, FLAC compresses audio without discarding any information. A FLAC file is typically half the size of a WAV file containing the same content.
• WAV: WAV is short for Waveform Audio Format. It is an uncompressed format typically used for short snippets of sound and voice recordings.
To know more about Ogg Vorbis and FLAC audio format, visit the following Web sites:
• http://flac.sourceforge.net/