As long as one must still have a manual process, then it requires thought, and exceptions.
Like I said, I agree, and it stinks that there isn't a way for ripping right now, and it would be nice if there was an easy way to set a default. But, ripping a disc is an inherently manual process (you have to insert the discs, and usually type in some kind of metadata anyway), so this seems like a minor issue.
I long-ago ripped my entire CD collection anyway, so all media comes in via the Import process. I imagine for most users, it is the same, unless you're doing a big "re-ripping" project (and then, you can just do the tag application at the end of the whole process).
For all regular imports, though, there's no reason not to just use Tag On Import. Like I said above (and as is explained in the wiki article), it works fine with manual auto-import runs (and the Import a Single Folder mode), so you do not have to use Background Scanning to get the benefit. I'm also not sure why you wouldn't use background scanning because it is awesome, but if you can't for some reason (or just don't want to), you can still use the rest of the import system.
To me, it seems a little like if there
was a way to set a Default, complaining that you couldn't use it because... I don't know, because you don't want to use it.
I also still wonder about this:
Has anyone tried making a DSP preset with an empty-string name? I wonder if that would work already?
I don't know if it will let you name a DSP preset to an empty string. But if it does, then that will almost certainly work.