Well, I'll see what I can do to help.
I have used Exact Audio Copy (EAC, like you discussed briefly) to rip CDs before. It was a while ago, but I remember the process vaguely. What I believe you'll need to do, is rip the CD to .wav files (this are going to be quite large...they're the .bmp equivilant for audio, if that means anything to you). You will then use a program to encode the .wav as an .mp3. I never got really involved in encoding, and actually only ripped one or two CDs ever, but I used a program called NexEncode. I believe I found it on Download.com, but now find no record of it there. It's possible you could find a program that would encode on-the-fly (meaning you wouldn't have to go CD->.wav->.mp3, you could just go CD->.mp3), but that's no guarantee. I think the encoding process is a pretty CPU-intensive process, so it may not work out very well to try ripping a CD directly to .mp3. (Download.com has an
entire section of ripping/encoding software. I'd recommend sorting by downloads and get one of the more popular software titles.)
You noted a report that encoding to .mp3 wasn't the best way to get the best audio quality. This is true. MP3's are the equivilant to .jpg images (again, I'm making image type references...not sure if those mean anything to you). While I'm not 100% sure of the method MP3s use for compression, it is my belief that it uses fairly complex data algorithms to search for data strings it can "normalize" (aka, it changes them slightly so they'll fit into a pattern algorithm of some sort). The lower the bit-rate of the mp3, the smaller the file size, but the more the encoder will "normalize" the mp3. What this means for you is a less crisp sound, and high/low-frequency degredation/loss.
While CDs aren't recorded at 320 kilobit sound quality, it still makes some sense to encode/download mp3s at that quality, because it means a closer match to the original file.
If you're looking for an exact copy (no quality loss or changing of the audio), a .wav is the most literal copy available. It is literally every single bit of the sound clip manually specified (the frequency, wavelength, etc. for the audio to be produced). This is the same with a .bmp for images, where the file manually specifies the color for each pixel in the image.
I'm not sure what .mp3 pro files are so I can't really address that issue. I do, however know, that there is another compression format available that is the equivilant of a .png image. Monkey Audio's .ape files are theoretically an exact replica of the original source audio. What this means is that during encoding the file, it will still find ways to compress the file from its original, .wav format without changing the audio. The reduction in file size using this encoding method is significantly less than that available in .mp3 files, which is understandable (the .ape files will be larger than .mp3 files). I'm not sure offhand of the web site for this company, but just search Google and you shouldn't have a hard time finding it.
It's likely there are some issues in your post that I didn't address, so if you have any more specific questions, or things left unanswered, let's hear 'em. I hope this has helped somewhat. As a small disclaimer, I would by no means consider myself an expert on the topic of anything audio, so things that I "know" are not guaranteed to be factual.