DAN DUGAN:
> > I just want to reiterate that 99.999% of the time the storage medium
>> makes -no- change, not "tiny and insignificant changes." I did
>> ten-generation subtraction tests and listening tests when people were
>> believing (incorrectly) that DAT recordings had generation loss.
>>
>> Another pet peeve of mine is that every professional error-correcting
>> digital audio system (CD player, for example) should have an
>> error-correction headroom meter so you know when the medium is close
>> to failure. None do. Pros want to know.
WALT:
>You seem to be trying to have it both ways. If as you say digital has no
>loss, then there is no need for a error-correction headroom meter.
Any physical medium is subject to damage or degradation.
Error-correction fixes it. It's important to know the state of the
recording so that it can be copied (perfectly) before the degradation
gets to the point where data is lost.
>What that error correction is dealing with is loss of data.
My point is that error correction -prevents- loss of data. It's a
system designed to deal with the real world. The vinyl record, for
example, depends on physical perfection of the medium to preserve the
quality of the sound. Same thing with analog tape. But physical
perfection is an unrealistic expectation. Digital recording media
embrace the funkiness of the real world, and laugh in its face.
Perfection out of imperfection.
>Yes, it's small, and a ten pass test won't even really make ATRAC break
>out a sweat, let alone the so called lossless formats.
I haven't tried it, but I suspect that ten generations of ATRAC would
be audible on selected sounds.
>But in digital we
>make many more passes than that without even noticing them.
Ain't it great! I have no nostalgia for analog recording.
>I got my info from folks who design the subroutines and hardware that's
>inside our computers.
>
>It's good enough not to be a problem, but there are errors. As in the
>exact same bits don't always come back out of lossless digital processes
>or transfers.
Anything can break. The genius of digital media is like life--the
ability to reverse entropy, up to a point. And then it's over, gone,
lost forever. But what fun while it lasts!
-Dan Dugan
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