What format are most people using, and why?

I have a question: How does one make "the perfect rip" and how does one know?

Well, okay, maybe that's two questions. Anyway, I have been using EAC and AccuRip to rip seedees to WAV and then immediately to FLAC (erasing the intermediate WAV file). The process I use is described here:

http://http://wiki.slimdevices.com/index.cgi?EACInstall

Much to my surprise, I find that it is accepted that a perfect "bit-perfect" rip is unlikely even with EAC...or at the very least it is usually impossible to verify a perfect rip even with AccuRip.

Does anyone have any thoughts on how to consistently and time-effectively make the perfect rip? Is it even possible to make a perfect rip for certain (even if it is not in the AccuRip database which many of my seedees are not).

Does the "perfect rip" involve a particular cd ROM drive?

Having so much invested in ripping a large classical collection, my inquiring mind wants to know.

As mentioned earlier in the thread I have all my files saved in Apple Lossless. If I had iTunes convert my Apple Lossless files to WAV would my files be equivalent to ones created if I had ripped them to WAV from the CD at the point of my original rip?

Curious......thanks.

An uncompressed Apple Lossless file is exactly the same
as the file was before having been compressed.

( When an lossless audio track is listened to,
it is decompressed on the fly. )

FLAC! Too bad Apple stuff doesnt support it...

WAV for mostly CDs ripped to disk in the Microsoft world.

Here's a good accounting of why:

WAV FORMAT