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Path: utzoo!watmath!clyde!burl!ulysses!allegra!mouton!karn
From: karn@mouton.UUCP
Newsgroups: net.audio
Subject: Re: Vinyl vs. CD recordings
Message-ID: <159@mouton.UUCP>
Date: Mon, 24-Sep-84 18:41:57 EDT
Article-I.D.: mouton.159
Posted: Mon Sep 24 18:41:57 1984
Date-Received: Wed, 26-Sep-84 07:19:45 EDT
References: <3050@watcgl.UUCP> <61@unc.UUCP>, <829@opus.UUCP> <4758@brl-tgr.ARPA>
Organization: Bell Communications Research, Inc
Lines: 30

I see very little point in trying to make a laser-read "analog disc" now
that the digital disc is here.  The whole point to digital recording is that
it gives you an unprecedented ability to trade off bandwidth for
signal-to-noise ratio (remember Shannon). The closest you can come with
an analog technique is wideband FM, e.g., Beta Hi-Fi.

The basic storage mechanism in a CD is highly unsuited for direct analog
recording. It is noisy, has relatively high raw bit error rates that translate
into rather poor S/N ratios, and the pickup mechanism is highly nonlinear.
However, its big claim to fame is BANDWIDTH. It can spew out raw bits at a
rate of several megabits for over an hour.  Digital encoding and error
correcting algorithms let you exchange this for a relatively narrowband
(20 khz) signal with an extraordinarily wide signal to noise ratio.  I
doubt you could do this well with any analog recording scheme that would
also have the capability to ride through bad spots on the disc.

The only shortcomings of digital audio are in the minds of the golden ears.
I see no need for new technology just to placate their ill-informed
complaints. The only reason anybody even bothers to answer their wild
ravings is concern that their visibility is all out of proportion
to their numbers (and substance), and that anti-digital columns in trashy
magazines (e.g., Absolute Sound) might inhibit the growth of digital
audio and spoil it for the rest of us.

Once the CD has taken hold (and I think it's just now doing that), we can
just relax, sit back and be amused by the anti-digital "golden ears" as they
take their rightful place among the creationists, astrologers and
flat-earthers.

Phil Karn