[Whopbamboom]

Thanks for the response.
Nope, CDA was not for the dental association, LOL!The .cda was the type of file that my computer says is on that CD. It did not say it was a .wav file.
The sound system it was recorded on was at a local church. I have no idea what the system actually is.

You know, it's kind of funny, as I was waiting for a reply this last hour or two, I actually did some of what you mentioned--- maybe I'm smarter than I look afterall. I googled for some free (yes, I'm broke right now) audio editing programs, and did something like what you described. I wound up using WavePad (NCH Swift Sound) to do some tinkering. I forgot which program actually ripped it, but it got ripped to the computer desktop.

First, I highlighted the very beginning of the song (the guitar intro), and amplified that little bit to 200% of it's original in order to bring it more in line with the overall volume of the rest of the track. Then, I highlighted the entire song and "normalized" to 25% (is that what you meant by compressing?). Lastly, I then highlighted all of that again and amplified to 400% of the volume. That program would not allow me to amplify any more than 400%, plus it seemed to be getting a little distorted at 400% anyway.

This did bring the volume up a little, and now it can be heard somewhat, but it is still very quiet and I was certainly hoping to achieve better results.

Any other ideas?