[X4U] importing audio CD as AIFF

[DZ-Jay]

On May 1, 2005, at 20:50, Alex wrote:

>> I'm certainly not an expert on this matter
>
> I doubt any of us is; be that as it may, you are entirely wrong, and 
> Kirk is right.

Again, someone else says that I am entirely wrong; entirely, as in 
*everything* I said was absolutely wrong? :(

> The problems of DAE (digital audio extraction) lie in the audio CD 
> specification. Succinctly, data on an audio CD is not organized in 
> files; the medium is not random-access and the synch data is less 
> accurate than a desktop OS requires; and error correction is not 
> robust enough. These limitations were not intended as some kind of 
> copy protection, but were a reflection of its intended purpose and the 
> time when the specification was created. (Remember the days when some 
> were arguing that nobody would want more than 640k RAM in their PC?)

Hum, just out of curiousity, which part of my argument was your 
explanation supposed to be debunking?  As far as I recall, I already 
had mentioned in a previous post that an audio CD is not organized in 
files, and that it is accessed serially.  So, I agree with you (?)

I am not arguing I was right about everything I said.  I just want to 
find out what is it that I am wrong about, as Kirk also replies "I'm 
sorry, but you are wrong" and then fails to point out which part of 
what I said is wrong -- and in each post, I metion many things.  Unless 
*everything* I've been saying is wrong, which I doubt, as I have 
repeated many other facts that have been pointed out during the course 
of this thread by other more knowledgeable people, including the fact 
that audio CDs are not stored as files, etc.

What my argument boils down to is this:  When iTunes, and other popular 
commercial software, extract a song from an Audio CD, is it performed 
by extracting directly the raw data, bit by bit, and thus making an 
exact clone of the original, or is there some sort of translation or 
conversion happening during the process?  What I was saying is that I 
*believed* -- and that I could be wrong -- that the data is not 
extracted bit by bit, unless using a software that calls directly to 
the firmware, like one of those specialized open source CD ripping 
programs.

And furthermore, I was saying that that copying limitations on common 
applications is due more to political pressure applied to developers, 
and not by technological limitations.  Certainly you understand that, 
for example, making a copy of CD in iTunes is now less convenient than 
it used it, as there is no longer a function to make CD duplicates per 
se, but you have to take song by song, import them, and then burn a 
whole new disc.  Conversely, there are some very good open source 
ripping applications out there that allow you to make fast and 
convenient duplicates of a disc by using RAW DAO or some similar 
method.

That was my argument, and again I reiterate that I am not saying I *am* 
right, but that this was what I believed.  Please tell me if this is 
correct, and if not, I would like to know why (just to learn, not to be 
pedantic and expect you to prove me wrong), and I will gladly stand 
corrected.

I apologize for lengthening this argument, but I just want to 
understand the technology.

	dZ.