WAV editor

[Lynn David Newton]

Experts,

I'm in serious and immediate need of a WAV file editor.
Freshmeat presents me with no less than 17 choices.

The project I'm working on is pulling tracks off of CDs
and making MP3 samples of chunks for use on the Web
site of the musician whose music it is.

I'm finding I can extract tracks with great precision
using cdparanoia, except it's difficult to estimate
exactly where to cut. All I have to go on is the timer
on my computer CD player. There's gotta be a better
way!

Would someone with actual hands-on experience with such
a beast please send recommendations?

Also ... is bladeenc considered the best WAV => MP3
program? How about lame?

Third ... how can one do the job so that samples fade
in and out rather than just ending abruptly?

This is my first time trying to solve this particular
problem, so I'm on a bit of a learning curve here.

Help much appreciated. Thanks.

-- 
Lynn David Newton
Phoenix, AZ