Oh no, I'm definitely into my shinies too! :-) That's why instrument-wise I've currently clocked up 5 acoustic guitars, 1 electric, 2 octave mandolins and 1 fiddle, plus my wife's electric piano too.

But I'd rather get *different* shinies and have a range of stuff to play with, instead of spending money upgrading stuff that I don't really need to. That means I make sure the first one I buy is one that'll last. Unless I'm consciously just buying something to get me by, of course, in which case I'll buy an average one and upgrade when it no longer does what I want.

McGrath, for ripping CDs to MP3, I thoroughly recommend CDEX (free software). Simple, and does the job well.

Graham.