First, if you were able to use an older version to load your file, you can uninstall the older version, and reinstall the newer one, and your file should migrate. In any case, as Gutsy said, it should still be there, as a wav file in either the Current or Done folders (probably Current). If it doesn't migrate, you can still load that file quickly (since ES doesn't have to uncompress it to wav which it's already done), into the new version, which will accept your foot pedal, and voila, you should be off and running.
It seems that if you had problems ripping the CD on an older computer but not a newer one, you may have problems with your CD reader/burner. You can get inexpensive cleaners--they look like a CD--that clean the lasers. Otherwise, you might try getting an external DVD burner, which reads and writes all the other formats and media.
I would ask why rip a .cda to mp3, rather than rip to .wav; when ES loads the file, it's going to uncompress it to a .wav file anyway.
If the foot pedal issue isn't resolved, try the hot keys; they work extremely well. I've been using them for a decade. KRN