How do I rip an audio CD to a single file?

At least a command-line application abcde, found in the universe, can handle ripping the whole CD into one file.

After installing, the basic usage would be (in Terminal):

abcde -1 -a default,cue -o wav

The command should create a full-length file with a cue file. Instead of wav, you can use ogg, mp3, flac, spx, mpc, m4a if you have the codecs.


KDE has this functionality built into the desktop! You simply open the audio cd folder and you get:

  1. all tracks listed as ogg and mp3 files, each with their own file name.
  2. An ogg and mp3 file, named "all" (or similar name) which represents ALL tracks in one file.
  3. You also get other codecs listed depending on what is installed.

Now these are not true ogg/mp3 files [yet]. You simply copy any of these virtual files into another folder and kde then creates true audio files in the target folder. Real simple.

See: What really happens with audio CDs in KDE 4.x?

(If you have a Gnome ONLY system (I usually have both available) you might try KDE's K3b program which runs on Gnome, but I am not certain if it has this feature.)