Clarification on read offset and AccurateRip

[jacksmithorso]

As I understand it, by tweaking the read offset it is ensured that everyone starts ripping at the exact same position, so the rips can be compared and verified. But this alone doesn't mean that this is the 100% exact position where the content on the audio CD starts; just a position that has been commonly agreed upon. So, how was this absolute start position determined?

Or is it really just (more or less) arbitrary because there is no common position where the content of each audio CD starts and it's only about being able to compare my rips with those of other people?

The main reason I'm asking is to determine whether I should consider re-ripping my CDs again, because so far I've always used offset 0.

Thanks for the help.

[EliC]

Re: Clarification on read offset and AccurateRip

Read offset is to standardize between drives. There is no reason not to use a read offset, in fact, you have to use it if you want to use AccurateRip, and I highly recommend AccurateRip

Andre, EAC's developer did some tests to determine and set a standard for read offsets between drives. It turns out he was probably off by 30. However, it doesn't matter much and is a very small amount. There was some talk of "fixing" this if there was an AccurateRip2, however, that is not in the works.

I wouldn't re-rip you discs just because of a read offset. You could re-rip because you want to use accuraterip or store as a lossless, etc.

How many discs do you have to rip?

[jacksmithorso]

Re: Clarification on read offset and AccurateRip

I currently have 200+ albums already ripped and stored in a lossloss format. So far my drive has been very reliable, so I wouldn't re-rip them just to verify them with AccurateRip. I would however re-rip them, if there was something like a 100% perfect offset / start position.

But since 30 is the suggested offset for my drive, ripping with offset 0 maybe already gave be perfect rips?