Because of my love for Linux I use a ripper called "grip". Grip rips much faster than EAC, but the reason EAC is slow is because of the error correction it is doing. EAC compares a number of readings of the same sector and only carries on if they are the same. Unfortunately most CD drives buffer the data from the CD so you cannot just ask for the same sector again. You have to "rewind" the reading process to clear out the data buffer. This takes more time but gives a better result.

S. Kench