I can tell you a slightly better way....It's about as complex, but at least it doesn't use up a CD....
You will need a sound recording program like Sonic Foundry Sound Forge (that's what I used). Get it off Kazaa if you don't own it.
Start up iTunes and your sound recording program. Also, open the Windows Mixer by double-clicking the speaker icon in the system tray.
In the Mixer, click "Options" - "Properties"
Select the "Recording" radio button, then OK.
You should see a number of sliders with checkboxes at the bottom labeled "Select".
You want to select the slider that corresponds to your sound OUTPUT. On my PC, it is labeled "Stereo Mix". This basically tells your computer to get its recording stream from the stereo mix.
Close the Mixer.
Now, go to your sound recording program and start recording. Then, switch to iTunes and start playing whatever you want to record. When the song stops, stop your sound recorder. Now you can save it as whatever you want....without wasting a CD!!!!
Be sure to monitor your recording. You may need to adjust the recording level to get a good quality recording.....I usually do a sample run through by skipping the song around in iTunes and checking the recording level in Sound Forge before I actually record the whole song. Essentially, you want the meters as high as possible without "Clipping" (Sound Forge has a clip indicator light that makes this very simple).
If you find this helpful or run into problems, drop a line to
tnwesel@mindspring.com and let me know!