AccurateRip strives to be infallible, but it is not. One guy has just configured his NEC - DVD_RW ND-3500AG drive using 3 CDs from the same box set, he got -23, it should be +48 (113 submissions). Using the same 3 box set CDs has a high chance of the same wrong pressing offset being built into each of those CDs (the help file says don't use CDs from the same set, so don't!).

Last I checked all of the NEC 35xx drives had a read offset of +48 and write offset of +18. Accurate rip doesn't seem to be very accurate in my experience either.

I have my ND-3520 set up with read offset +48 in EAC. however, the rips are not identical to those made with my Plextor 1210A in my other PC.

Typo by me, 113 are the number of people who have sumitted the same +48 for that one drive, considering it is one of 100's of drives auto validated by accuraterip (there are background programs that run statistics on the results flagging up those who get it wrong, their results are then purged from the database, their computer ident added to an exclusion list), all pretty accurate stuff...but perhaps you know a better way?

Ironically the fact that I typo'd the worng offset when writing this text shows that the weakest link is human, better to rely on computers for accurate work.

I just don't use accurate rip since it isn't veru accurate. My rips made by my NEC ND-3520AW are identical to rips from my Plextor PX-W4012A, aside from the last track since the NEC can't overread. I can get matching rips from 4 drives I have aside from the last track again. The plextor is the only one I have that overreads. I'd suggest simply looking up the drive in one of the several databases or using EAC's built in offset detector using the small list of detection cd's listed on EAC's website. Hasn't been wrong for me yet.

I'd also like to note that the Plextor 1210 drives have a read offset of +99 unlike later models like mine are +98.

>I'd suggest simply looking up the drive in one of the several
>databases or using EAC's built in offset detector using the small
>list of detection cd's listed on EAC's website

and how do you know the databases are right? often people find offsets by trying to match one of Andres CD's from EAC (as you recommend)and that does ot even take into account CDs with pressing offsets - so lots of people will get the wrong offsets!. Also I have looked at these online databases in the past and compared with AccurateRips online database, atleast 5-10 drives on these databases are just wrong (where more than 5 people have submitted the same offset to accuraterip using different key disks to get that offset, it is pretty certain it is correct), on the other hand I would bet my house on AccurateRip giving the right offsets for your drive, providing that if 3 key disks are required then they taken from a different source (ie not the same box set).

>I just don't use accurate rip since it isn't veru accurate.

In what way is it not accurate?, you are talking about something but not backing up with facts...until you can give me certain facts that the accuraterip database is in someway corrupted, or that the idea of accuraterip is flawed you are talking complete rubbish.

>My rips made by my NEC ND-3520AW are identical to rips from my
> Plextor PX-W4012A,

and at the same time your ripping is twice as slow, because if your CD was in the database then ripping once on one drive would tell you if it was accurate, without having to rip again on a 2nd drive.

On another note, when the users taking part in accuraterip reach 50,000 I will run an accruacy check on drives (it should be possible), using the idea that scratched cds will be uniformly spread amongst those 50,000 people I can check the results for accuracy and create a table of drives that are able to rip cds most without error, and those drives which are not very good.

Those results would be very interesting. Thank you for your work, spoon!