Me too   I don't believe it to be the case though that the error correction starts making approximations to the original data if it can't quite retrieve all the data - you can't make approximations in the digital domain. Either the data is read bit-perfect and your CD plays, or it's not and you typically get loud pops or cracks - the whole point of the digital storage is that there's nothing in between. As I say though I'm no expert so I'm quite prepared to be proven wrong.