Thank you, Stephen, for your welcome and your thorough response! The tracks were recorded on an md deck. As it turns out, the error message had to do with not having admin rights on Windows XP (Pro). I've subsequently been able to "rip" two md's containing about 2 hours of audio. I did upgrade to SS 4.3 using the stand-alone installer found on this forum. Sony Tech support (through online chat & phone) were very courteous but could not readily solve my problem. I hope my experience will save others some frustration. Appreciate your help, Ernst