wma files?

i am ripping a cd i have on to my desktop, i have never had a problem before but this time it goes onto my desktop as a wma file.... what the hell is this? and how can i make this an mp3 file? any help is welcome.
thanks

one other thing, (this has never happened before) i put my cd in the drive and open up and view the files.... all the files have the extension "cda" ex: track01.cda what is going on here?

.WMA is Windows Media Audio which is Microsoft's closed off and propietary audio format. There are plenty of options for ripping tools, I use iTunes myself but you can find plenty of options at versiontracker.com.

Use CDEx ripper and make them as mp3 or OGG. It includes LAME and other usefull engines for ripping. I've used it for years, and it's the best.

http://sourceforge.net/projects/cdexos/

Don't use WMA, it's sheite.

thanks for the help!

anyone know why this has started to happen all of sudden? i have never had this extension problem before.

you can change the output of windows media player in the tool settings. Goto rip music and change the output from wma to mp3.

but personally i use itunes