When I was running Windows XP one of my best software buys ever was Virtual CD, developed by the German software house H+H Software GmbH.

Unfortunately Virtual CD was not compatible with Windows Vista so I lost it’s great functionality when I migrated to the current version of Microsoft’s operating system.

There are many CD ROM drive emulators out there but Virtual CD is much more than that: It emulates all CD and DVD formats and – best of all – a CD and DVD burner.

I am using Virtual CD to convert my entire purchased iTunes library to the mp3 format – without wasting a single real real-world CD RAM.

Virtual CD is fully transparent to iTunes and iTunes seamlessly burns purchased songs to Virtual CD ROMs. Importing them back as mp3 files works like a charme. And because everything is virtual and no real burning hardware is involved anymore, converting a 14 track album to mp3 takes minutes only.

I highly recommend getting Virtual CD 9 . It’s absolutely worth the money.

(And as always: No affiliate links in this blog. :-) )