Ripping CD's

You are talking about doing something one might have done fifteen years ago. A newer approach would be:

You could just rip them all to a USB drive or computer hard drive or Network accessible drive and create play lists. This was the contemporary way of doing things a long time ago.

But typically today you would subscribe to a music service like Qobuz, Tidal, or other music service and create playlists. You get access to nearly infinite music for an incredibly low cost… $9.99 - $12.99 / month often with higher quality sound.

I realize there are many options out there and I have access to some of those. But......I didn't want opinions of options. My questions were very basic.

I can suggest that you get EAC (Exact Audio Copy), a free download, for ripping your CDs. It’s the best free ripping software out there and has been for decades. I’m not so sure about burning software. Search for best free cd burning software and be careful that it doesn’t load a bunch of malware and other crap onto your computer when you download it.

I’ve used MAM-A, aka Mitsui, cd-rs They were made in the US last time I bought some and were considered high quality. I’ve also used Verbatim cd-rs and not had any problems with them. Avoid generics, cheap semi-generics and anything made by CMC.

I use a Melco N100 as a server and a Melco Optical Player as the ripper.  You can save on that with a slight quality drop using dbPoweramp software and a generic optical ripper .  Or get something like the Bluesound Vault to rip/store/play files