I've been out of the media rippin' scene for a while, so I got a few Q's..

[6th Borough]

Last time I burned cd's, messed w/MP3s, etc. was 2000...hell, maybe 1999.

So I need a little "re-education" now w/ the various file formats.

I've recently purchased a PSP...basically a souped up iPod 10x the size w/out a physical hard drive (though that can be amended through importing).

Ok...lemme think what I wanted to ask here...

1) Is MP3 still the standard in regards to ripping CD's? Still the best quality? (Aside from AATRAC, which I haven't used in a long time...it was, or is, the Minidisc standard).

2) MP4...is this strictly a video/audio combo format, or can it be used to produce higher quality sound-omly files?

3) Podcasting...fancy word for streaming media that can be saved to memory, correct?

4) What's the best freeware/opensource CDA->MP3 (or various different standards) conversion software? I have Nero 6.6, but don't feel like installing the complete, bloated program...only 1/10 of which I'll actually use (though Nero 7 Platinum looks pretty sweet...)

5).Vob is DVD encoding, correct?

Thanks in advance for any help.