It's good to hear that this has happened to other people besides myself at one time. I have stopped using EAC to rip my cd's. Don't get me wrong I don't take any pleasure with people having EAC ripping issues. I feel ur pain as they say. But it is the main reason I stopped using it and went back to using dB PowerAmp. I can only remember one incident in the last 8 years where dB PowerAmp failed and that was because the cd, from a friend, was pretty beat up, mainly scratches. Gave the cd a bath with a soft cloth, a minute amount of dish soap & lukewarm water, making sure I went against the grain of the tracks on the cd and Voila!, it ripped as easy as pie.