I used a program called Ashampoo a couple or three years ago to rip a bunch of CDs. It was a free download and I had no complaints with it. I want to think it is maintained by a German company. I can't comment on the spyware aspect of the package except to say that I have had good luck by searching before I download software. Run a search like:ashampoo spyware. If there are complaints on the web, you will find them before you have your own.