"Laurence Payne" wrote ...
So you maintain ripping a CD is just a synonym for playing it?

No, "ripping" implies an element of COPYING, not just playback.

I don't see any particular problem in reading data from any chosen
point in any file on any non-linear medium - CD, floppy or hard drive.
There can be a rather looser attitude to error-tolerance. on an audio
CD, I suppose. Does this have relevance to it's unique data
structure?

It is that conversion from a RedBook digital "stream" (or the
extraction of audio from a game, etc.) into a "proper computer
file" that is the essence of "ripping" to me.