Vista - Ripping CDs with Vista Media Player

Hi:

I am running Vista 32-bit Homne Premium on an HP laptop.
I am trying to rip my CD collection to my hard drive with Media Player
as 320 kbps MP3 files. How do I get to the settings panel to set the bit
rate,
file type (mp3, wma, ), etc ?
I see the tunes ripped to the Music folder with the CD artwork as part of
the folder icon. Where is the artwork file actually stored ? Under Winmdows
XP Pro
all of these files were shown explicitely when I ripped the CDs to the hard
drive.

Windows Media Player under Vista is VERY CONFUSING to use.
The CD icons keep sliding all of the screen byu themselves.
The version fo Media Player in XP Prp (Meida Player10, I believe) was much
mroe intuitive and easier to use. Why did Microsoft have to complicate
matters ?

Thank you

DaleB