I'm just wondering if I got one and ripped a stack of cds if it would be obvious what was what afterward.

Yes, it's obvious, because you can look at the number of tracks on the album and their running times and match up a given CD to a given untagged album. Or just play one of the tracks.

Also, I wanted to say that Emplode is not the only way to fix up tags. You can do it from the remote (not easy) or from a USB keyboard (a bit easier). So the PC isn't required.

Another note is that the CDDB is pretty comprehensive (although not error-free), so it's very rare to rip a stack of CDs and have even one unrecognized album, let alone more than one.

the PC I have copies of music on is on 24/7 anyhow with 2/3tb of disk spinning...

This is an example of one of the situations where I would not target-market the Rio Central: You've already got a music server covered. I like the Central because it's a silent 24/7music server, and I didn't already have one.