I've used
Audiograbber for years. Simple to use and has worked well on all the burners I've ever used with it...from my first one, a 4x burner, to my latest DVD burner.
You need to download the lame_enc.dll file from their website and copy it to the folder where the program installs (C:\AudioGrabber), and that will take care of the LAME encoder for variable bit rate recording you mentioned. There is a link to the download page in the program help files.
Randy