I'm interested in encoding some of my CDs to the AAC format. Where can a get an encoder and player for free? Thanks.

here probably:
http://www.inf.ufpr.br/~rja00/

http://www.inf.ufpr.br/~rja00/aac.html

You want Psytel 2.15 complete package for the encoder. Look at the included pdf for the preset switches, ie: -extreme -archive -normal etc...

Just select Psytel in the dropdown box and stick one of those presets in EAC's "Additional command line options" field and you're ready to go.

For the winamp plugin get:
AAC/MP4 Input Plugins 516kb
inside you will find in_faad.exe