1) What are some reccomendations for software to use for ripping CD's and converting them to MP3 files? Is some software faster than others? I don't really feel like spending days sitting in front of my computer ripping CD's

If there is any way you can adjust your viewpoint on this, you will be much happier in the long run. I know, the temptation is absolutely overwhelming to get the music ripped and encoded and dump it into the player Right Now... but this is a mistake. Take your time, ration it out to just two or three CDs per night, check the work frequently to be sure quality is what you want. And most important of all: spend a huge amount of time getting your tag information (which is where the database information in the empeg comes from) absolutely, fanatically, past the point of diminishing returns, complete and correct. You will be everlastingly thankful you did this.

2) Any suggestions on setting up the directory structure and organizing the files. In other words, what have been some common errors that have been made or if you had to do it all over again what would you do differently?

Most common method is genre; then within genre, Artist; within Artist, Album; within Album, Song. But there are any number of different methods you can use. My music is mostly classical, so I use a different scheme. This is an entirely personal choice. If I had it to do all over again? I'd keep my directory structure the same, but I would spend, conservatively, five times as much time and effort on my tags as I did.

3) I know that there are different compression rates for the MP3 file format that result in different levels of quality. What is the best rate to use for the best size vs quality compromise? What is most commonly used?

Again, that is a personal choice... but keep in mind that hard drive space is now so cheap that limiting your quality based on file size may be a false economy. Audiobooks can record at 128 or even 64 KBPS without any noticeable loss of quality. Symphonic music would go at 160 KBPS minimum. I would guess the majority of people use Variable Bit Rate, on either the highest or next-to-highest quality level. Pick a CD you like that is representative of your music collection, and put it in the empeg at different rates and see which you can live with -- then use the next higher rate for the rest of your encoding. Using a higher-than-necessary bit rate for your encoding will never make you unhappy.

Take your time, do it right, and enjoy your new toy!

tanstaafl.