Rip 'em for a fee

Would you pay someone to convert your CDs into MP3 for you? Apparently, enough people would to keep a new business called RipDigital very busy, Wired News reports.

Yes, it's pretty easy to rip your own songs in the digital music player of your choice, but that takes time, says RipDigital co-founder Dick Adams:

"There are a lot of people out there who have more money than time," said Adams. "Most people don't roll their own cigarettes, and a lot of people don't want to do this themselves."

Instead, they can FedEx their disc collections to RipDigital and get MP3, AAC or WMA versions back on DVDs or external hard disks -- along with their original coasters. Pricing starts at $129 for 100 CDs, with unit cost falling as the library size increases.

Call this another milestone in the shift toward a world of digital, mobile music: the first support service -- and, I suspect, hardly the last -- that does the dirty work for you.