I think it's odd to say that a CD is better than a digital recording. Both are digital recordings.
The key is 'lossless'. It seems people aren't reading that word. Let me re-iterate that there are audio compression codecs that are completely lossless. You have FLAC, MonkeyAudio (APE), MP4, etc. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_codecs#Lossless_data_compression (I make have included ACE or AC3 in the last one - but that is lossy but to a very minimal degree.) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lossless_data_compression Lossless data compression can occur with any type of file. This is why you can TAR or RAR or ZIP any group of computer files and still end up with the same files no matter how many times you compress/uncompress them. The same exists with audio. Why? Because CD is a digital recording. It is data. It is not the actual wave form stamped on a disk. The reason why it is indecipherable from a live recording is because it is generally recorded at a sample rate of 44.1Hz - which is faster than the human ear can respond to. Again, it's perception only (or using a lossy and not lossless codec) that makes anyone think a CD is any better than a digital recording. -William -----Original Message----- From: Penny Ward Marcus <[email protected]> To: The Horn List <[email protected]> Sent: Tue, Aug 31, 2010 6:12 pm Subject: Re: [Hornlist] survey: digital download vs CD release Would you feel the same if you could have wav file or lossless CD quality download availability? It does take longer to download, but the quality of sound is there, and if you were to make a CD from those files it would be pretty much indistinguishable from a CD purchased in a store. I am actually just plain curious now. People seem to worry about not having a physical CD, but it is cheaper to purchase the files than a prepared disk, and then make your own CD backup AND disk for use. How does that affect your thoughts? Thanks for all your responses! Penny _______________________________________________ post: [email protected] unsubscribe or set options at https://pegasus.memphis.edu/cgi-bin/mailman/options/horn/archive%40jab.org
