Hi khaos100,
1) Don't use APE "extra high" --- it's very, very slow for little gain. (10 times slower, saves $3 worth of HD space) I'd recommend "normal". The clicks are probably because APE "extra high" encoding is sucking too much juice. Also, I'd recommend "Digital Secure" ripping. It's slow, but you get the assurance of a perfect rip. (or at least a report if there were problems)
2) Don't normalize your APE files. Replay Gain is tons better than normalization, and it doesn't mess with the bit-perfect nature of the APE file. About the hanging, please ugrade to the latest MJ 8. (available on Interact) Also, could be a hardware thing.
3) Normalization doesn't make songs sound the same volume. You need Replay Gain for that. To burn with Replay Gain, you need to use the Disk Writer. Search the forums for "Disk Writer" to get more details.
4) Any HTML editor
Take care.
-Matt
JRiver, Inc.