I've recently been using the trial of Transcribe. It's free for 30 days and for sure has the following:
-Has adjustable EQ (preset and create your own) that can save adjustments with the song (for boosting the lead range for example, or saving a track at a reduced volume =P)
-Would be nice to isolate a section of a song and play in a loop. AND save bookmarks of loop sections.
Sorry, I don't know about ripping directly from CD or creating playlists, as I use iTunes for that.
But for transcribing, I haven't found any that do what is important for me. Ease of loop selection (click and drag), and bookmarking loops so that I can go from section to section. Very cool stuff! :D
If you like, transcribe is at http://www.seventhstring.com/xscribe/overview.html
Alex