Re: [Zappa-List] Ripping?

[mr_and_mrs_skull]

Thank you Jim.   I think the term first gained popular usage when mp3 caught on. A music CD (usually factory made) would be inserted and the act of producing mp3 files on the hard drive from it was termed ripping. I guess a new term was necessary in that audio on a music CD is in a format that can’t be stored on a hard drive. CDDA or compact digital disc format. So to get the music onto your hard drive it can’t be just copied but rather must be changed to a different format. Wav files are almost bit for bit identical to CDDA but the header is a little different on CDDA by design so that it can’t be copied so easily. At least that’s what they thought back in the early eighties. Mp3 is of course not similar at all and most of the digital information must be discarded when mp3 is created. Flac and shn files still contain all of the data from the original wav file but store it a bit more compactly and can be expanded back into the original wav file. With mp3 you can expand back to wav but you can never get back the information that’s been tossed out. That’s why they’re referred to as lossy while wav, flac and shn are considered lossless. Much of the information that gets tossed out in the creation of mp3 isn’t even audible however and that’s why they can sound as good as the do. Results seem to vary dramatically to my ear depending on what encoder is used. To me LAME makes the very best mp3 and razorlame is a good front end for it. Both are free.   Then DVD entered the picture. Commercially produced DVD is encrypted and so can’t be directly copied to the hard drive or disc ether. So ripping software for DVD became available in short order. It decrypts the files so that they can be copied. Unencrypted DVD’s like we share here can be directly copied to the hard drive.     Also if you do a direct disc copy of a CD it doesn’t have to be ripped to another format but can directly copy the CDDA files. The belief that EAC (exact audio copy) software is superior at reading the disc however has lead to the practice of ripping an audio CD into wav files first and then authoring a new CD from them rather than doing a disc copy. Everything I’ve read as well as my own experiences seems to back up this belief. Ideally a software could read the disc like EAC but create a disc image from the data instead of making wav files. That would avoid converting from CDDA to wav and then back to CDDA just to copy a disc. Perhaps EAC will get around to that in the future.   Jim L From: Zappa-List@yahoogroups.com [mailto:Zappa-List@yahoogroups.com] On Behalf Of [EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Thursday, December 22, 2005 9:30 PM To: Zappa-List@yahoogroups.com Subject: [Zappa-List] Ripping?   All,   What precisely is ripping, as opposed to merely burning and copying?   Mr. Skull     "Being in politics is like being a football coach; you have to be smart enough to understand the game and dumb enough to think it's important." -Eugene McCarthy, 1968 For further Z-related fun, please visit http://www.thebignote.com or http://www.killuglyradio.com , thank you. SPONSORED LINKS Personals Fun family vacation Fun ride Family fun Fun christmas gift Fun apron YAHOO! GROUPS LINKS  Visit your group "Zappa-List" on the web.    To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:  [EMAIL PROTECTED]    Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to the Yahoo! Terms of Service.