Problems ripping CDs into iMac

I'm having problems ripping my CDs into Apple Music.

Setup:

iMac 21.5" late 2103 2.7GHz Quad-Core Intel Core i5, MacOS Catalina (it cannot be upgraded newer)

External drive https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0FHVLRHZ5 because iMacs don't have internal drives any more. (It's very quiet-almost too much!)

I'm ripping to Apple Lossless for upload to Apple Music, so for that and other reasons I am only interested in Mac solutions.

Anyway there are some foibles which did not used to happen:

- Upon insertion it is set to "Import CD and Eject" however the CDs also start playing. I don't want that, and it seems to be slowing the process down. Plus I want to insert and forget, not have to wait and manually stop useless playback I'm not listening to. ?!?!? Is this from the iMac? The external drive? This did not happen before with another drive which is lost somewhere in the garage grrrrr.

- I'm getting some "file for song XXXX" could not be found errors.

- The ripping seems slower than in the past though it is quite possible I have grown more impatient with age.

- **** now I noticed it does not auto-eject...again is that the drive? The Mac? 

Thoughts? Ideas? For maybe $250 I could get a newer iMac upadateable to a newer OS and newer version of Music (this old one is 1.0.6.10 and feels kind of clunky). I'm going to rip...maybe 100 CDs? Just rare stuff to stream, I'll keep those discs as backups.

P.S. In the midst of this process I have noticed "Xanadu" is on the Essential Albums list for Electric Light Orchestra...