So much work for gapless playback...... wow.
Also, using a "lossless" compression that is "mathmatically lossless" isn't really lossless... you will lose something somewhere.
Can I suggest a couple of alternatives??
Easy CD-DA Extractor:
http://www.poikosoft.com/
Not free, but will extract your CD's far easier than WMP will, it'll also extract an entire CD to one file if you'd like, and in any one of dozens of formats. If you wanna go true lossless, extract to FLAC or APE.... then use the built in converter to convert to MP3 or better yet, OGG-Vorbis (better sound with better compression generally speaking than MP3). I personally have my entire collection (including the CD used in Ed's example) ripped to FLAC, and then I convert the lossless to OGG for my pocket PC, low-bitrate MP3 for my wife's portable player, and high-bitrate MP3 for my home audio system. When a new release of OGG came out a few weeks ago with the exellent aoTuV enhancements, I updated EZ CD-DA, and set it off re-converting my entire collection of OGG.
Another alternative is AudioGrabber:
http://www.audiograbber.com-us.net/
It's another one that makes extraction painless and easy, and does full CD's as a single file if you so desire. It doesn't however do conversion from one format to another, but it is FREE.
As for gapless playback.... well.... I don't bother with all the hassles of piecing them back together or ripping the entire CD to one file. I just use a player that supports gapless playback.
Cheers,
D.