it can be quite daunting for beginners to be offered such versatility without firm directions in say mp3 encoding.

I delberately left the MP3-encoding part of the FAQ vague because those products keep changing and because "what's best" is very subjective.

Using things like EAC, Lame and MP3-Trim proves to be not entirely user friendly (although lame 3.90 has made it easier).

True, but it's hardly my place to provide detailed documentation on those other products. "I can only show you the door."