Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Posting-Version: version B 2.10.1 6/24/83; site mouton.UUCP 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