[X4U] importing audio CD as AIFF

[Kirk McElhearn]

On Apr 30, 2005, at 5:06 PM, DZ-Jay 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. :)

Look, I'm sorry, but you're wrong...
>
>
>
>> 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.

If that were the case, then why would they be in such a tiff about  
file-sharing? Because it _is_ an exact digital copy of the music. As  
for consumer audio CD players, they use additional error correction  
that computer devices don't usually have. But they are also much  
slower, since they don't need to read data faster than the playback.  
(At least not much faster.)


Kirk

           Author of: The Mac OS X Command Line: Unix Under the Hood
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