[X4U] importing audio CD as AIFF

[DZ-Jay]

On Apr 30, 2005, at 09:59, Kirk McElhearn wrote:
>
> Yes it is. Take an AIFF/WAV file, then compress it in a lossless 
> format, then decompress it. Use the command line tool diff; other than 
> possible header info (which would include the encoding/decoding 
> software perhaps), you'll find no difference.
>

Kirk, I am not arguing the fact you mentioned above.  I am merely 
stating that you are *assuming* that the AIFF/WAV file -- stored on 
your hard-disk after ripping -- is a bit-by-bit copy extracted from the 
raw data of the Audio CD.  I posit that this is not the case.  I could 
be wrong of course. :)


> Software does not resample the music; if it did, it would be playing 
> the music then digitizing a sound stream. It simply reads the bits and 
> bytes the music "file" contains.

Of course the file is not resampled -- not when you are working with a 
local file, on your local disk.  But, it is my contention, that this 
file did not arrive via a direct pathway from the Audio CD raw data 
into your hard disk.  This is, of course conjecture on my part, but it 
is based on other comments posted on this thread and in the various 
articles and resources offered by other posters.

Let me spell it out directly:  The collective recording industry does 
not want us, consumers, accessing the files directly from the disc, 
because perfect duplication (and in their view, piracy) would be just 
too easy for the average joe, and hence it would affect their control 
over the distribution.  Since there is no legal support for this 
restriction (yet!), they convince (or twist the arms of) hardware 
manufacturers and commercial application developers to abstract, 
distance, and restrict access to the raw data.  Thus, you can play your 
Audio Disc *perfectly*, but for some reason, you cannot extract the 
same bits to create a copy in an easy way.  There is, therefore, a 
specific technical difference betweeen consumer electronics Audio CD 
players and computer-accessible CD-ROM/Audio Disc Readers/Writers.

	dZ.