iTunes supports converting to MP3.
However, only if the song is not protected (i.e.DRM crap).
To be honest, I don't know if songs ripped from a CD by iTunes to Apple lossless are marked as protected. If they aren't, then in iTunes you can convert to mp3 directly. If they are marked as protected, then you have to use some hacks out there in the Internet to remove the protection and then iTunes will support converting to mp3.

Now the problem with Apple lossless is that if you want to use a media streamer to pump your tunes through your stereo system, I think you'll be limited to using Apple products to do this. I used FLAC since it's supported by my Squeezebox media streamer and I figured would generally be more portable in the future.

But, if you're sticking with Apple stuff, then you might actually want to give that a try - use iTunes to rip to Apple lossless and then use iTunes to convert to mp3. Presumably you would do this because you don't have a bizillion GB iPod and therefore can't store all the songs you want in the larger lossless format. Otherwise, if you do have a big iPod or are willing to stick with a small playlist, apple lossless should play directly on the iPod as well.


Mitch