Not much of a hint, but an unannounced feature in the new iTunes 4.1 makes it a worthwhile upgrade.
In the Importing tab of Preferences, "Use error correction when reading Audio CDs" should produce rips with fewer skips from scratched CDs. A handy alternative to the Unix tools out there for "safe" ripping.
There are many variables in play, so YMMV.
Mac OS X Hints
http://hints.macworld.com/article.php?story=20031029105353693