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From: wagner@uw-june (Dave Wagner)
Newsgroups: net.audio
Subject: Re: Digital Audio Cassettes...
Message-ID: <311@uw-june>
Date: Thu, 3-Oct-85 20:26:29 EDT
Article-I.D.: uw-june.311
Posted: Thu Oct  3 20:26:29 1985
Date-Received: Sat, 5-Oct-85 03:05:33 EDT
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Organization: U of Washington Computer Science
Lines: 33

> From: schley@mmm.UUCP (Steve Schley):
> 
> There is, I think, a new issue of importance here.  Photocopying is
> self-stifling, since I can't simply put a book in a machine and get a
> bound book out.  Taping LPs to cassettes has been self-limiting, due to
> raw tape costs and the quality degradation in the analog recording
> process.  Taping CDs to analog tapes will probably be just as
> self-limiting.
> 
> But bit-copiers (in the computer software arena, and soon in the audio
> arena) produce clones -- much closer to the original than photocopies
> or analog cassettes.  Lessons learned in the computer software market
> show us that, more than ever before, these copies will compete with the
> real thing.
 
The real question is, will these new recording machines have digital
input/output on the back panel - because, if so, then the problem will
still exist, except it will be confined to tape-tape copying.

A more serious implication of these differing standards seems obvious
to me:  it's going to make the introduction of a purely digital
music system next to impossible!  Think of how nice it would be if
your equalizer, ambience generator, preamp, etc. all operated on a
stream of bits and output a different stream of bits.  No signal
degradation until you eventually convert it to analog to drive the 
speakers!  This will never become a reality now.....

		*sigh*

		Dave Wagner
		University of Washington Comp Sci Department
		wagner@washington.arpa
		{ihnp4,decvax,ucbvax}!uw-beaver!uw-wally!wagner