Jack,
That is exactly what I was thinking of.
I was thinking of taking the audio off of my sound card (or thru speaker wires) and recording it to a tape player then playing it back (ripping)to mp3 files. the only hassle is having to play everything back twice in real time and having to type the info (tags) for each tune.
I didn't know about the recorders that can save the ripping step and for sure haven't heard about any soft ware that could automate a few of the steps. I'd pay for that kind of info!
Shit, U're getting me excited...
The reason I like them in CD form is that I have a good mp3 player in my car and need to back up everything anyway (I already have many Gigs of tunes).