I just wanted to thank everyone who's contributed to this
thread. It is a complex issue, but I agree with most everyone else, it
needn't be contentious.
I'm grateful to all participants, and I've learned a lot from the
discussion.
One point I feel I should make as an advocate of free software in a computer
science, Free Software Foundation sense,
is that openess (freedom) has a value. I've always favored programs,
formats, processes, etc. for which I can get the complete specifications.
This might leave me out of the cutting (commercial) edge of some
technologies, but I can 1) at least figure out exactly
what's going on, and 2) (for eg) write a program to extract data from a
disk and play it on my computer or write it to a CD.
As I understand it, with ATRAC I can do the latter (play it) but not the
former (know exactly what's going on).
On the other hand, I love taking off on a carefree walk with my consumer
grade MD and binaural mics,
(well under 1 pound total) finding a nice place to sit, and recording what's
there. They're some of the nicest cuts I've got.
Usually, when I do this, I'm much farther afield than I'd ever care to carry
my DAT, bigger microphones, power supply , etc. etc.
BUT on the _third_ hand, with bats in the hand or Katydids in a treetop, for
instance, I prefer a completely different set up,
and wouldn't even consider using the MD or the DAT (48 kHz/16bit) for the
recording.
So it isn't "MD vs. DAT" but "A or B or C or D...." ; whatever it takes to
get what you need to get.
Again, thanks to, all.
Keep up the good discussion.
And if possible, please broaden it include even more technologies and
techniques.
Steve Pelikan
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