After browsing this forum and Googling for several weeks, I have begun re-ripping all my CDs with EAC (though, I'm not very far yet).

Now I see that my offset correction is a 0, and the AccurateRip DB says it should be +102. Is this a big deal? Should I enter the correct number from the DB and start over? Should I test my driving using EAC and/or AccurateRip, enter that number, and start over?

Thanks for the help, and the great forum

No big deal. The offset is extremely small...
A few mileseconds or something.

That really depends on how much you care about a perfect rip. Unless your ripping to a lossless format it's pretty useless. Personally I always use read offset correction, but I also backup all my cd's to a lossless format with cuesheets and such. So unless your really picky like me, I wouldn't worry about it.

Offset should be corrected if you want to report your results to DB. If not every drive with different offset will give different result for the same track.
off-topic: Duble0Syx the world is such a small place . Do you report your stuff to AccurateRip DB ?

102 samples / 44100 samples per second = 0.002313 seconds

No big deal.

I don't even use Accurate rip. Secure with NO C2, Accurate Stream & Disable Cache + Test & Copy pretty garauntess you a good rip, providing there are no errors and the CRC's match. Plus I have a plextor drive, the offset is +98 for sure. I can rip the same stuff with my lite-on and get identical md5sum, and it's offset is +6. To me it's important because I have too much spare time.

With EAC it is also possible to send your results to DB. I know that your rips are exact and that's why it would be good idea to report them so that other people could compare their results with yours when ripping same albums.

Offset Correction does not make your rips any more "perfect". Offset correction should be used to avoid generation loss when making multiple generations of copies or when one wants to compare rips done with different drives. The assumption among many that offset correction makes the rip more "perfect" is a big misunderstanding. -Martin.

Just install accuraterip and it will correctly set your offset for you, end of your worries, plus it will help confirm your rips.

I thought CD identification for cd databases was done through the TOC? Maybe I'm wrong...

Rather sounding rude and telling people they are wrong, why don't you explain why?
FACT: Without offset correction there will be missing samples, even if it is only a few.
FACT: With offset correction and the right drive there will not be missing samples.
So please explain how I am wrong with fact-based information.

Thanks for the tips everyone. I am only about 6 CDs into my reripping (I'm too busy, and forgetful to be farter). But, I'll probably get AccurateRip set up and go back to rerip if I get a chance.

DubleOSyx - It wasent my attention to be rude, i just gave my oppenion about the subject, but i apologise if it sounded that way. The point i was trying to make was that cds is made with varying offsets and there is not such a thing as a reference offset for cds. This you will notice if you ever try to find your offset correction value with EAC, where you need the exact same pressing to get the right value. Andre just tested the offset values of many cds and finally selected one value that came out frequently(6 identical values) as the EAC reference offset(which plextools also adopted). So you see, as the offset varies from cd to cd and even from pressing to pressing you will not get all samples extracted from your cds when using just one fixed offset correction value, you would have to addjust the value for every new cd you rip and test it with a wave editor if your goal is perfection. -Martin.

We are talking about samples here. There is no way you would be able to tell an offset corrected rip from a non offset corrected rip. And on all CDs I've seen, those samples are just digital silence anyway.

If your drive can't over read into the lead-in or lead-out then you will lose samples even if you use the correct offset. Based on the tables I have looked at and the EAC logs I have seen, most drives can't read into the lead-in and/or lead-out.

As stated above, the missing samples are almost always just silence. Only a very poorly mastered CD would have any audio within the missing range. I wouldn't bother to rerip the CDs that you've already ripped unless you actually can hear that something is missing.

That seems true. All the tracks I've looked at in sound forge always have at least .5 seconds of pure silence, proven by raising the volume 200dB.

Someone should check some older analog sourced CD's. Mainly some of the oldest cd's. These sometimes has some "noise" until the very end. I'm not trying to be a stupid about this, but the most useful part of offset correction is you can rip the same cd with as many different drives as you want and get the exact same results, providing they can over-read properly. This is why I own a plextor drive. Effectively there no such thing as a perfect copy of a disc, but with a constant read offset you can garauntee you won't lose any more data than anyone else. Of course you also need the other setting in EAC set properly. Final result is, I use offset correction. It's the closest thing to getting a 1:1 copy. Some people don't care. For those that don't care about it there is nothing to discuss. Also when using offset correction the only tracks that will be missing samples on drive that can't overread will either be the first or the last track depending whether it is -/+. Every cd pressing may have a different offset, but when ripped we can all get the same results. I don't want to argue with anyone, and I hope this doesn't sound like that. This is just my opiniont based on the what I know. Use the offset or don't. Whatever makes people happy.

Most modern CDs seem to be mastered and mixed digitally and have fade ins/outs from/to digital silence, a few have dither noise between the tracks...
Because the only CDs I rip are older ones (pre 1990), about 50% have analog tape noise before/after the tracks.
The greatest gift of offset correction is accuraterip, of course.