I use Cdex http://www.cdex.n3.net it has CDDB and a host of options, I used it to rip about the same amount of CD's. I have also used RazorLame (which uses Lame a most touted encoder by many as being the best) by way of tfabris's suggestion of exposing the tracks on the CD-ROM's as .wav files. RazorLame encodes only and has no CDDB. I find they both work well and have various VBR settings, which keeps the files a little smaller while getting the best quality, the cake and eating it too thing.
If you use RazorLame you will have to enter filenames manually.
For ID Tagging I use MP Tagger http://surf.to/mptagger seems to work great and for multiple entry ID's there's MP3 Tag Studio, I tend not to use it anymore because all of my tags ended up the same with it's multi-tag at once feature and I had to go back and change all of them individually, big pain.:[
Another neat little utility is called MP3 Trim http://www.logicell.com/~mp3trim/ which I use to cut parts I don't want (start/end) from the song and even fade in/out of those songs that have too long a silence.
Well there are many options, too many, good luck.

#090000695 Mk2 BLUE 12Gig