I don't see you benefiting from running too instances of LAME.

I can't disagree with you more.
If LAME is not allowed to run in the background,
ripping stops between each track to wait for
encoding to complete before it starts ripping the next track.
And since encoding on my machine is so much faster than ripping,
the limiting factor is the rip.

When allowing only one instance of LAME to run
in the background allows the ripping to run uninterrupted.

I ask :
"Why would I want to interrupt the already slow process of
ripping the track with the any amount of the encoding process ?"

It's a winME box, 1 chip and plenty fast.
2 instances of LAME using only half of the
available processing power is a non issue,
because even one "Athlon 800 XP" would
encode the track faster than it is being ripped.

the real issue is my rips are done at 3x.
Mostly for accuracy, the drive allows for 8x ripping,
it's just not as relaible.

To further illustrate my point :

If you do not allow LAME to run
in the background you get this routine :

insert disc
rip track 1
encode track 1
rip track 2
encode track 2
rip track 3
encode track 3
rip track 4
encode track 4
rip track 5
encode track 5
rip track 6
encode track 6
rip track 7
encode track 7

Allowing LAME to run in background
produces this routine :

insert disc
rip track 1
rip track 2 and encode track 1
rip track 3 and encode track 2
rip track 4 and encode track 3
rip track 5 and encode track 4
rip track 6 and encode track 5
rip track 7 and encode track 6
encode track 7


As far as preset LAME settings,
I'm not sure they make sense to me,
as a general rule of thumb I figure,
any decision that is made FOR you,
is probably a bad one.

-k -q0 -v --vbr-new -V0 -b192 -B320 -F -ms
seems to make a LOT of sense to me,
and I just can't rely on someone else's "preset"
to make sure all of this stuff happens.

Defined : -k -q0 -v --vbr-new -V0 -b192 -B320 -F -ms

-k
keep all frequencies,

-q0
mp3 encoding quality 0 (highest)

-v
use variable bitrate encoding

--vbr-new
use the "newer" vbr encoding method

-V0
variable bitrate encoding quality 0 (highest)

-b192
use 192 as lowest bitrate

-B320
use 320 as highest bitrate

-F
enforce 192 as the lowest bitrate
i.e. use 192, even for silence

-ms
use stereo mode, 2 independant channels