rip v. burn (digital media)

Ripping is the process of extracting digital media from a source, such as a CD or DVD, and copying it to a hard drive in a format that can easily be manipulated on a computer. Creating a group of compressed, tagged MP3 files from an audio CD is an example of ripping.

Burning is the opposite operation. An optical disc image is temporarily created from music, video, or data files on a computer. This image is then copied to a CD or DVD. You can use applications like MediaMonkey, Windows Media Player, iTunes, and Nero to rip and burn discs.