Why not fix the artist/album data before you rip? I always fill out/correct all the tags to the way I want to see them prior to ripping. This causes the files to go where I want and lessens the work I have to do later.
Also - it only takes 2 seconds to click on 'options' and 'file locations' to check where the files are going. I always do this prior to ripping since I do different things for different CD's. IE - single discs go to "[Artist]\[Album]", but multi-discs go to "[Artist]\[Album]\Disc [Disc #]". Likewise, single artists go to "[Track #] [Name]" while multi-artist goes to "[Track #] [Name] ~ [Artist]". I also have different directories for music, audio, and test discs.
Not saying an 'always ask' for file location is a horrible idea, but the current set-up isn't really that cumbersome.
It's cumbersome enough to me to not use MC for ripping, and I'd like to, to get auto importing, auto cover art and auto audio analysis.
So I use EAC for ripping, and create the exact dir structure I want before ripping as part of the process, not buried in options. It's awkward and clunky,
options should not need to be used for day to day operations.
"Cumbersome" is of course in the eye of the beholder. But an "Always Ask" function would really clean things up and allow me to use MC for ripping, which I'd really like to do. And it would not change anything for other uses that like the current setup.
It seems that both you and I have a "workaround" for the dir/file naming issue, your work around is to go to "Options" for every rip, my workaround is to use EAC, either way, it's a workaround. Now if we had an "Always Ask", neither of use would need a workaround, and MC would fufill all our ripping needs.