Best CD to FLAC software and FLAC playback software

dBpoweramp is great ripping software I've used it to rip my entire cd collection to flac. I don't use JRiver so can't comment but highly recommend dBpoweramp it's fantastic software and dirt cheap.

I've been using Exact Audio Copy to rip CD's to FLAC.  Not sure if that's the best one, but been pretty reliable when I copied CD's.  Never thought I would rip my entire collection, but my "archival grade" Taiyo Yuden are having disc rot.

I also use EAC, mainly because it tests and error checks the disc before burning it onto the hard drive. Takes a long time though (around 10 minutes per disk).

I looked at EAC, but it doesn't seem to carry over the artwork and track info like DBpoweramp.
If I ripped with EAC, can DB be used to insert the above mentioned info to the ripped disc, afterward?

If you use JRiver Media Center, you can just rip with that. I find it does a fine job on most disks. On some damaged disks, dBpoweramp does a better job. JRiver is a great tagging program.

Honestly, EAC  is a great program, but it is no longer in development. And, it is slow.

JRiver is a great player, but it's flexibility comes with a level of complexity that makes it hard to use for some. But if you are comfortable with that, it is a very flexible program.

This is for Windows. There are different options for Apple.