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!

It is possible using WMP to convert .mp3 format into .wma (and vice-versa), if you have the capabilities (in which I currently have). Yes, it appears that LW only plays .mp3 format. It can play .m4a format, but you have to have a player capable of playing in that format (which I don't think I have at the moment). Originally, whenever I would put CDs on my computer, the tracks would be in .cda format. Now that format can't be played (or so it was until I was able to convert it into another format).

There are a number of audio & Video conversion programs that can be downloaded. A good one is Blaze Media Pro (http://www.blazemp.com/). It's pricey but you get a 15 day free trial. You can also edit with it. If you edit, when you save the file, change the name (I add 1 to the end of the file name); otherwise, saving doesn't change the original file.