Sugeknight the reason that EAC is slow is its greatest strength.
EAC checks the audio data its extracting many times to confirm that its data is good. If it runs into a CD sector that your CD device is having a hard time reading, EAC slows it down and reads it several times to correct any problems.
Almost all other ripping proggies our there just rip as fast as they can without checking the integrity of the extracted data. Most of these proggies don't even tell you if the rip was 100% successful.
Have you ever picked up a file on Napster, Morpheus, etc only to find "POP, TICK" or other strange sounds in the mp3. How about a bootleg or fan CDR that you traded with an internet "friend" that has this same problem. This is mostly caused by undetected rip errors.
EAC will do its best to correct such problems by rereading the data over and over until it gets it right. And if it can't (which is rare), it lets you know.
EAC is like a fine wine. Good things take time!