The only reason I have heard Plextor drives are good for ripping is because they are designed to be able to do block-accurate addressing on Audio CDs. [snip]

It is possible that, since the above-linked text was written, other drive makers have also added this feature to their drives.

Yes, they have (we got to find out this sort of stuff when designing the Rio Central).

If that is the case, then the Plextor advantage is no longer as great as it used to be.

There's still an advantage IMO. I've got one CD, that doesn't even appear scratched, that I couldn't rip in any PC at Empeg Towers except the one with a Plextor (PX-40TS).

Peter