Ok, I've been digging into the entire process I used, to rip and encode my tracks.

I found esdplay loaded on my RedHat based laptop. Playing the wav file thru it shows some of the same problems. I think this eleminates Lame as a source of the problem. GIGO. That leaves either cdparanoia or the hardware as the garbage source. I'm suspecting the hardware. I'm going to try ripping on another machine next.

Meanwhile, Does any one have suggestions for a new laptop. One that rips music with excellence. I've been looking for a reason to buy a hot new Laptop, this just put me over the top.

Glenn