As I look on some of the posts above I think I should add a bit more.
After much experimenting and measuring I found that getting rid of Microsoft/Windows Media was the best way to go for accuracy. Sure some of Direct Sound can sound good & yes you can get decent rips using other software, but that's not why I wrote this article.
I wrote the article for folks who don't trust microsft with much of anything in this area. I don't need my data stream to have the LSB dithered, I don't need it resampled at 48 kHz with artifacts that I don't need or want. I don't need my copies to the hard drive to be generally O.K., and I don't want to worry about what the next Microsoft update will bring me.
What I do need and want is what's on the CD and not much of anything else. This would appear to be a simple thing to ask for but that did not seem to be the case.
EAC is one of the most "brutal" of the copying software. It takes me about 25 to 30 minutes to copy the average CD. Why do I take the time? because I want the accuracy on a consistent basis, & because I am attempting to archive my library. Note I use the term archive, and I use the term archive because I don't expect that in my life time that there will be reissues of my library on a better format.
The article was written for folks who are interested in that and are wise enough to understand that the trends in consumer electronics are making that a necessity for folks who have invested in large CD libraries.
I make no judgements on other peoples needs, wants or desires, but I do intend to take care of my own.
d.b.
http://www.audioholics.com/news/industry-news/is-the-cd-becoming-obsolete.html