Automatically mount USB flash drive to "/media/a"?

[Felix E. Klee]

I have set up Ubuntu 10.10 for someone who is used to accessing USB
flash drives with "mtools". Example (a: -> /dev/sdb1, b: -> /dev/sdc1):

  mdir a:

Now, I showed how things work in Ubuntu. Once a drive has been plugged
in, it is accessible under "/media":

  /media/some_cryptic_label

But he doesn't like that. Is it possible to tell Ubuntu to instead use
mount points as follows?

  /media/a (first USB drive)
  /media/b (second USB drive)
  ...

By the way, with the "flush" mount option, is it still necessary to
unmount a drive before pulling it? With "mtools", there is no
mounting/unmounting.