How do I transfer music from a CD to an MP3 player?

[Lord Panda]

I was in the USA last month and whilst I was there I bought [from a store in San Jose] two Panasonic 128MB MP3 players to bring back with me to the UK. Since getting back I have found it impossible to transfer music from CD to the Player, even using Windows Media Player as recommended in the instructions. The tracks transfer, but then do not play and the message >PROTECTED< appears above the tract number. I do not know for sure what this message means, as it is not listed in the troubleshooting guide, but I can have a fair guess that it means that the Player thinks the tracks are copy protected. I have tried this with a range of CDs, some of which go back to the late 1980s, when I am sure there was no copy protection around and in any event I would expect the whole CD to be protected, not just individual tracks, so I am not sure what the problem is. Please help!

[j2buttonsw]

Have you tried to download a free mp3 "ripper" (search for one on Google) then "rip" your CD tracks to mp3 files onto your PC? Then transfer these files to your mp3 player.

[rarll]

www.musicmatch.com download the basic player and this will rip any cd's to mp3. dead easy to use.