Here's a tutorial on how to use CDex to extract CD track(s) in WAV format for editing in Audacity:
 
http://manual.audacitytea...how_to_import_cds.html

Audacity is free. It'll let you rip and edit and save, and lots of other things as well (EQ, normalize, etc).

fret_man
Audacity is free. It'll let you rip and edit and save, and lots of other things as well (EQ, normalize, etc).

I've tried Audacity. Does it rip CDs? How?

TheSteven
>transferring the audio tracks over from iTunes is time consuming. 
iTunes rips CDs as fast as anything else I've tried.
The only hassle is that you have to retrieve the MP3s from the iTunes folders.
 
Once you have the file Wavosaur is handy free editor.
http://www.wavosaur.com

That is the exact workflow that I'm trying to avoid. The issue isn't the speed of CD track ripping, but the fact that I have to hunt around for the file in another folder to edit it.

I was going to mention CDex & Audacity but the OP mentioned using one program to rip & edit 
 
When I got back to work, I ripped a CD just to check it out as I had not used that function in Sonar - always used Pyro.  When I opened Sonar, I just chose the New Project option which gives you one track each Audio & MIDI.
 
Interesting thing: I didn't select a track but simply chose File|Import|Audio CD as pointed out above.
 
Sonar went to work importing but instead of a new Audio track for each CD track imported, it filled the first track and then proceeded to layer the next 5 tracks into the MIDI track as MIDI files!  It converted the audio in the ripping process!!  In the clip below, I had dragged each of the files off of the MIDI track (track 2) below to put each in it's own track - all MIDI (although not in order - my bad).
 
Just to make sure Sonar could do it, I proceeded to repeat the process twice: once with an empty single audio track and once with no tracks whatsoever.  In these attempts, Sonar ripped quickly and perfectly with each CD track in it's own Sonar audio track.
 
 

This from the Audacity site:
 
"Audacity does not contain any function for importing (ripping) audio from CDs. This can, however, be achieved by using other programs to extract the data into a file format Audacity does support."
 
http://manual.audacityteam.org/man/tutorial_how_to_import_cds.html
 
EDIT: to remove fluff from my hasty post!

Maybe Sound Forge Audio Studio?
$59.99
http://www.magix-audio.com/us/sound-forge/

Steinberg's Wavelab Elements costs $100 but can be had on sale several times a year.  I highly recommend this software.  Even at non-sale price, you do get your money's worth.  Maybe $100 is above what you consider low-cost - but like I said, keep your eye out for a sale.  While you're waiting, you can probably get by OK with Audacity and pick up some free CD ripper from the web.

TheSteven
>How about Sonar?
Didn't know that.  Cool tip.

I never thought of that either. Thanks Tapsa!
 

Been using AudioGrabber for at least 15 years. It's free, it's fast, and it works well.
 
Note that it doesn't do editing - though you can rip a portion of a track if you'd like. Rips a disc at a time and stores MP3s in an artist/album directory structure, or you can rip a single track as MP3 or WAV and store it where you like.
 
Also lets you take a WAV file and encode it to MP3, which I use to encode my Sonar projects.