Mike, With Limewire you cannot force yourself to become an ultrapeer (some applications do have this option). Limewire decides automatically which hosts are to be ultrapeers, and since v4.9.29 or so it has fairly radically changed the criteria. Usually an Ultrapeer is chosen due to having a fast and stable connection. It is not a huge advantage to be an ultrapeer, but without ultrapeers the network would not exist as we know it, so you are not missing anything
Having a lot of CDs imported into your hard drive, and being shared, should not in itself slow your upload speed down. but it really all depends how much space you have, ... your computer type and processor speed etc. Mainly, If you are sharing a lot of files, you should not be TOO generous, by which I mean allow 5 or so uploads at a time, and see how things go. Increase the number gradually if you feel you can, but do not allow 50 uploads at a time where all 50 will be struggling to get a decent upload speed, and your system will probably slow to a crawl.
I don't quite know how you would need to put the cds on your computer... depends on your software. Personally I use iTunes which does the job just fine.
Personally I know of no known collective term for a "download" or "cache" of Limewire users ... or Limewierdos
