Hi, could someone recommend a good CD/DVD Drive that will be used only to rip audio CD's which are in poor condition? Thanks!

All I use are Liteon Drives. But I have repaired quite a few cds that most people would of written off and thrown out. I use this http://www.novuspolish.com/
I have even gone as far as using 2000 grit sandpaper and then finishing with the novus plastic polish.

Plextor's cd-roms and cd-burners are known to have very good performance.
//Danne

Have a look here . There's a few other tips about ripping scratched cd's.

LiteON 52327S. I've tested it thoroughly and it is a fast and very capable ripper with scratched discs, especially if you throttle it down to max 8xCLV with EAC.

Plextor Premium or Plextor PX-708 (and supposedly 712). I've also tested these two and with Plextools Pro they shine IMHO (use: recover best bytes option under Error Correction). The performance of Plextor drives with Plextools is superior to LiteOn drives with scratched discs (for both speed and amount of errors) in my experience.

If you don't have access to great drives, you can try polishing/smoothing out the smaller/lighter scratches. I have used Skip doctor myself with good results.

Hi!

Halcyon: Were there any CD's which the Premium or 708 could rip better than the other? Guess I'm going for that nth degree of performance haha

Is that novupolish stuff hard to apply evenly? I think I've also seen those skip doctors at my local Rogers Video, will give it a try as well!

Thanks!

I have the novus 1,2and3. Three being for heavy scratch removal, one is the polish, two is for light scratches. It is alot more effective than the others i've tried. depending on the severity, I use 3>2>1 Or just 2>1. It works great. It has saved me lots of time and/or money repairing originals and backups of my daughters games!

Generally trust my LiteOn 52327S to all originals at this point. My previous favorite was my Plextor 12x10x32 which held its own until recently. Haven't needed it for the last 6 months which is when the newer LiteOn showed up.

Giving the original a quick clean can make the job a lot easier.

The only drive that could do a original disc with a crack in it was the LiteOn 52256S so that one's staying as well. Come to think of it, that's the only disc the 52327S has choked on.

digitaldoc: do you mean the Plex 12x10x32?

Oh, hmm I can't seem to find the thread though I'm sure someone asked before. The question is, does Plextor Professional take read offset into consideration when ripping?

I'm not sure what you're asking me. The LiteOn 52327S is the new favorite cdrw drive.