Here is another solution if you have a standalone player w/ a digital output (either coaxial or optical/Toslink) and a matching external input on your computer's sound card. You'll also need recording/editing software as well which should have been included w/ your sound card package if it has the external connections. You can also download many online or purchase them from a software retailer. There are numerous programs and everyone has their favorites; I used AudioView from Voyetra Turtle Beach which came with my soundcard. But if you have a SoundBlaster, there would be a Creative brand product included; Magix makes one, so does Roxio, etc...
Connect a digital cable from your standlaone cd/dvd player's output to the sound card's input. Again, you can either use a coaxial or optical digital cable.
Place the cd in the player.
Open the editing software, select new file and set the prefences for which format you'd like to save the file as and the quality level of the recording you'd like (select CD quality, PCM, or WAV if you're going to burn the track onto a standard cd OR select mp3 if you have an mp3 cd player or just want to store it on your computer).
Start recording from the software and press play on your player.
After the track/s finish, click stop on the software. (A word of caution if you have a slow or memory challenged computer: If you record an entire cd or a group of tracks that have a total time of 15 minutes or more as one track, it will take some time to finalize the recording after you hit stop since this generates a very large file. If you have a new computer w/ ample memory and a fast processor, this is not an issue.
You can then reopen the file w/ the editing software to remove any extra silence at the beginning or end of the track. I believe some of the newer sound cards have programmable remotes w/ an editing link similar to the dubbing feature found on VCRs so that you can link up for seamless playback/recording but I'm not 100% sure on this.
Anyway, I did this w/ the TDL IASW cd and it worked flawlessly. It will not endanger your hard drive in any way plus it's a pure digital copy - no analog conversion needed!
Enjoy,
Shane