Sorry you didn't get very far.. I am pretty sure though that LW player is purely for MP3's... which is why realplayer still overides the LW player for other formats.
When I rip my CD's I always use windows media player 9, and if you click on tools>options, then click on the rip music tab you can choose the format that you wish to rip your disc to...(MP3 or WMA) and also set the quality (bitrate). Remember to click the apply button when you alter your settings.
I'm pretty sure that there should be a similar option on realplayer, have a look at the options menu.
Good luck with the vinyl... I have no clue how that one goes!