Buy new
Personally, thought I do agree it is a commendable process of "keeping" e-waste from entering the system, there are legitimate e-waste recyclers and I think that is a much better place for such hardware.
I recently built a media PC with an AMD A10-7850K APU that brings the potential of 4K video into the mix as well as HDMI out for audio to my Yamaha RX-A1030. Though I chose to get some robust components, such as a Seasonic power supply that will likely never wear out in the lifetime of this box, I doubt that it would be impossible to keep the costs below $1K for anyone - and lower especially if you are willing to wait for the A8-7600. Given the "power" of the 7850 APU, I cannot imagine using a PCMCIA sound card for "audioholic" level audio output.
For ripping CDs, the free version of WinAmp will will work, and if you need to rip BR or DVD, try AnyDVD HD in combination with a BR burner such as Pioneer's latest BDXL drive - which I put into mine and which works great for playback.
Personally, I wanted something that was a "media center" rather than a media player. I chose Media Portal for the software.