You'll probably get varying opinions as to the best program to use, but I wholeheartedly believe that Apple's iTunes is the easiest one to use. You can download it at
www.apple.com/itunes
After you install it, be sure to go to Edit -> Preferences, and under the Import tab, choose MP3 format, and a quality setting (why not splurge and set it to "high"?)
Now, put a CD in your computer and click the Import button in the top-right corner. The music will be copied to your computer. To burn songs to a CD, a playlist has to be created (use the + icon at the bottom left to add a new playlist). Drag any songs from the main window to the new playlist. When you're ready, click the playlist, and the Import icon (top-right) will have turned into a burn icon. Insert a blank CD and click the burn icon.
-Christian
