1. Start Winamp in the normal way and right-click on an area just above the player controls to bring up the menu. Click on Options, then Preferences:

2. Select Output in the Preferences window and double-click on the NullSoft Disk Writer plug-in. If you don't see it, you can get it by following the 'Get plug-ins' link at the bottom right of the window:

3. Choose the directory that you want the converted files to be saved in and specify the format of saved .wav files:

4. If you don't usually use Winamp to listen to mp2 files, you need to make sure that the files open up in Winamp so that they can be converted. In Windows, highlight an mp2 file that you want to convert into the wav format, hold down the shift key and right-click. Select "Open wIth..." and scroll down the list until you see Winamp. Highlight it and click "OK". The file will be opened in Winamp. You won't be able to hear anything, but the player will run through the file, converting it to the wav format at several times normal speed.

When finished, you can find the destination folder for the file and use software such as CoolEdit 96 to edit the wav file. Wav files are typically large, but there are many wav to mp3 converters available if you want to encode back into mp3 to save disk space or transfer sounds onto a portable device - a look through the downloads section of ZDNet should help you find one.

Don't forget to change your preferences back to the Nullsoft waveOut plug-in to be able to use Winamp as a player again.

You may find that some of the icons within Windows have changed after using Winamp. Restarting Windows should cure this problem. If you find that file associations have changed, you can use the Preferences window in Winamp to deselect the files you want to open with Winamp. In the screenshot below, they are shown as selected.

Related links:
Winamp website
ZDNet website

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