So I picked up the Dual Disc version of This Type of Thinking (Could Do Us In) by Chevelle today at Best Buy, and I have a few questions about ripping it and whatnot:

1. These are the details about it on the website:

CD Audio Side :
Entire Gold album featuring the #1 Rock Radio hit Vitamin R and the new single The Clincher.
DVD Side:
•Entire album in 5.1 Surround Sound and enhanced LPCM Stereo
•Behind-the-scenes interviews with band members discussing the making of the record
•Inside look at the band working in the studio

What is the difference between 5.1 Surround and enhanced LPCM stereo?

2. The main reason for this post is... how would I rip it into surround sound files? Files that I could play through iTunes or on my iPod?

3. I kindof figured I couldn't play surround sound on my iPod, but am I able to play the enchanced LPCM stereo on it?

4. I was reading past posts on ripping DVD audio, and figured the stream processing in DVD Decryptor was the best way. How would I rip the files using that? More specifically, which settings?

5. Also, I have a 5.1 surround sound setup for my computer, will I get the full effect playing the 5.1 audio through a standard DVD program or do I need special software to utilize the 5.1 sound?

Thanks for your time,
Mike

The most obvious difference is that 5.1 surround has six channels (two front, two rear, one center and one LFE) whereas stereo only has two (two front). LPCM merely refers to the way the data is stored - in this case in uncompressed Linear PCM format - just like a regular CD (but maybe with different sample rate and bit depth).
Certainly - but you will want to encode it to AAC first or it will fill up your IPod very quickly. iTunes can handle this encoding, AFAIK.
Depends on the DVD program, but most decent ones support 5.1 output out of the box.

Thanks for the reply, it cleared up some of my questions.

If I encode the LPCM stereo to AAC (which I was planning on doing) is there any difference in sound quality over the regular stereo CD that is also encoded in AAC?

Well, yes, but you may not be able to hear it. LPCM is 48khz AFAIK. Whereas cd audio is 44.1khz. Also LPCM is sometimes 24-bit. There a good chance you won't hear the difference between the LPCM and the CD. Both are lossless.
EDIT: LPCM can also be 96khz if I'm not mistaken.

That being said, how would I rip the 5.1 audio into 5.1 .wav files, so that I don't have to keep the disc in the drive and play it through a DVD player?