Another ripper suite I use and gave a small description of in an earlier issue is Simple.

Since this has been getting constantly updated, I thought I would have another go at showing the program. As you can see the latest version on my drive is now up to 4.5j.

The ripper is the fastest I have used and has a variety of methods of encoding. I have been told by other users that it isn't particularly fast on their machine, so your mileage may vary. I have an Athlon processor, so maybe this can affect the results.

The interface for the ripper isn't particularly inspiring, but looks can be deceiving!

All the ripper configuration can be reached from the interface, and its worthwhile having a quick look at them.

The main option screen allows you access to how you wish your CD drive to behave as well as the rest of the menus.

This part has been really updated with loads more options on the encoding side.

You can now use all the options above . I have found the GOGO method the fastest for ripping and encoding mp3, but I recommend you try out all the different methods for best results. More file formats have been added as well as the different mp3 encoding methods, so it has vastly increased the way you wish to save your music files. One drawback I noticed is that it can encode as WMA, but can't decode them. You can also use an external program if you wish, but these are sufficient for my needs.

Again, this has been updated and Simple now allows for customisable recording.

I won't go into details here as the author has everything covered in his help guide.

This screen allows you to decide what happens behind the scenes after and while you are converting music. The fact that Simple reads the next track while it is encoding speeds up the process dramatically.most others I have tried only do one thing at a time.

There's even different language files available for Simple!

The ripper has been expanded dramatically and is now a valiant effort with all these changes. Encoding is still as Simple (no pun intended) as before, but you now have more options.

How you name your files remains the same, but you have a variety of servers to get the CDDB information. A new part is the load from CDplayer.ini

Now for the player.

The player has had a major update as well,it was pretty basic before but now has loads more options. It is skinnable as are most others and there are a variety of them in the downloads section of the website. To get to the website, have a look at the beginning of the article!!

The player has an equaliser which is onscreen at the same time as the player and is dockable with it.

I use a fairly basic skin again ..pretty staid but pretty IMHO.

Again, get some of the others and decide what suits you, for best effect.

The controls are well laid out on this skin and all the options readily available.

Going into setup will bring up the following.

The playlist features are easy to follow, and have all the usual options that most players do. You can also edit the ID tag from within this menu, so it is a fairly powerful tool as well.

On the plugins, dependant on the files you have downloaded, you can also have DSP effects as well as visualisation ! Another major reorganisation of the player.

And , as I said, skins are available.

Simple has had a lot of work put into it , and is well worth a look, even for just the fact that it remains freeware. As time has went on and version numbers increased, this program has steadily been improving. For fast efficient ripping/encoding, it's a speed demon on my machine. The player is now a formidable piece of work as well. Installing is as easy as a couple of mouse clicks and it isn't going to take all that long to download either coming in at under a meg.

Of course, downloading loads of skins from the site bumps the time up, but well worth it just to give variety.

Come on, give it a go ..its well worth the effort and adds to the arsenal of tools for ripping/encoding/playing available. I can't understand why this hasn't been highlighted over programs that require money for people to use. There is no need to spend money when this level of writing is available for the cost of a download!!