eac vs windows...artwork help etc...

i have a few thoughts...

i started using windows to rip my cd's which is a very simple process...put in the disc, hit rip in windows media player and scan with squeezecenter (i use squeezecneter/transporter). bam...i have my album in losless format and all tags/artwork in squeexecenter...done. well i read all the time how eac and flac will provide an audible benefit and is simply a better way to create audiophile level material...so i give it a go...eac was fairly simple to set up and operate i suppose, i did this a while back for a short time so i remembered some. it downloaded the flac program automatically too. i was able to get data but i could not get artwork. i started some threads on slimdevices, and here and still could not do it. the consensus seemed to be drag a jpeg into the album folder and name it cover.jpg and do a full scan but this did not work. so on to the next program...mp3tag. i downloaded it and think i have it sort of figured out. i can get art attached to a song but if i want the whole album to have art i have to attach it to each song.

this is pretty complicated and i would guess between all the programs there are some settings i may have wrong (or processes) too. is there really a benefit to all this mess vs windows one step process? does flac really sound better? isn't lossless lossless, whether it is named flac or wma lossless? does eac really rip better? these questions have been bouncing around my head for a bit so i thought i would ask you guys.

any tips on getting artwork into squeezecenter are welcome as well!!