BEST MP3 CODEC/RIPPER!! Please Reply

[athalon]

I am converting my 800+ RETAIL CDs to MP3. As this is going to be a Time consuming task, I do not want to waste time changing my mind on the bitrate, codec, or codec settings. I have a previous collection of about 30 CD's I did 3 years ago at 160Kbit. But now that I bought new Creative 5.1 speakers and a 160GB harddrive, I'm looking to start from scratch with 192Kbit/s as it is harder to tell the difference in most songs at higher bitrates.

I've looked around for various rippers, and ripping codecs, including all the three codecs for Windows Media 9 Series(MP3 Packs) which can be purchased online from Intervideo/Cyberlink/Sonic http://www.microsoft.com/windows/win...on/Plugins.asp These all sound good to me. Perhaps you can tell the difference. Or maybe the new Winamp Pro 502 ripper is any good?

Whether the ripper or codec is free or not doesn't matter. Time doesn't matter. Only Quality at a respectable 192 bitrate matters. This collection will probably be also used in a Media center PC which I will build in a year from now. And for now it will also be backed up on DVDs incase god forbid the Harddrive goes down.

So anyone with suggestions, comments or have done something similar, please reply.