A method and system are disclosed for counting error rates occurring within an optical compact disk system as data is read from an optically encoded compact disk. In a preferred embodiment error flag data are generated as errors occur within the optical compact disk system. From the error flag data, error flag bits corresponding to errors in reading information from an optically encoded disk are identified for further processing. Further processing includes, among other things, generating an error rate over a predetermined time period. The operation of some or all of the functions within the optical compact disk system may be interrupted upon the exceeding of a predetermined threshold error rate. From the error rate information, the hardware, software and firmware within the optical compact disk system may be optimized for increased performance.