What made you pick VLC for music? There's no question its a very good video player but I don't like it at all for music. To me, at least, the highs are very bright/harsh. Up to this point, I haven't noticed much difference between most of the players I've tried, except VLC. I honestly don't know why that is. Here is a list of free music that I think are worth looking at. I'm pretty sure they all have a Windows version.
Clementine, Amarok, Foobar, Quod Libet, Banshee, Songbird
Also, what are you using to rip?