1. First, you must make sure that you are ripping in a format that is supported by your digital player. Don’t waste time and energy ripping your favorite music to your Windows Media Player if your device does not support the wma format. Even if most audio players support the wma format, is better to be sure and not fall into the "I Wish I would’ve checked first" category.

2. Check if the information from your CDs is showing up automatically when you rip the CD to your computer. Some audio software use the codes contained by the compact discs in order to go on the internet and find out details about the music you are ripping. This can come in very handy when you want to sync your digital audio player. For example, you want "track 05" to show up as "Bee Gees – Staying Alive", right?

3. As you go on, do you organize your music into separate genres? Ripping your CDs to your computer if you are organizing the songs into genres by yourself manually, you are wasting valuable time. Instead of this you can go the automatic way with the help of your audio player you don’t have to waste so much time doing it yourself.

4. It’s important to know if you have a specific way to listen to your music. It’s not such a big deal if you’re the type that doesn’t mind if your Elton John comes right after your Pantera. But if you do, you might consider creating separate play lists before syncing to your digital audio player.

Now you are ready to step into the hip crowd of tech wizards with a portable music collection.