Klarinet Archive - Posting 001153.txt from 1999/11

From: "Benjamin Maas" <benmaas@-----.com>
Subj: RE: [kl] Vinyl to CD?
Date: Wed, 1 Dec 1999 02:28:12 -0500

> I don't want to get into a long flame war about this.
>
> However, it's flat out wrong to think that minidisc is a
> technology at risk
> of dying any sooner than CD.

When you make a strong blanket statement like this, I sure hope you have
some good facts to back it up.

In fact, minidisc is very popular in Europe
> and Japan, has certain areas in which it excels over CD and
> players will be
> around for a long time.

The only places minidisc excels are: 1. It doesn't skip when bumped. 2.
Instant access to material on disc (very handy for doing sound for theater).
3. Slight ability to edit material on disc.

Major drawback: fidelity of sound. Like MP3, the compression algorithms
are very lossy. You end up losing a lot of information, particularly in the
high frequency range. Yes, it is a much better sounding medium than the
cassette, but if you do critical listening, you can very easily hear
differences in sound. Most professional engineers view the minidisc in the
same light as the cassette. Handy for what it does, but certainly not a
viable recording medium.

Minidisc is also a superior medium for
> storage and
> playback of MP3 over the current and next generation to come of MP3
> players - until memory cards cost $2 like a minidisc, MP3 players are
> primarily a novelty.

Once again, blanket opinion.... Read my post a little more carefully. I
did NOT say that MP3 would be a replacement. It might, but it might not. I
referenced it as another option out there. Yes, MP3 is still a novelty of
sorts, but it has created more of a stir in the recording industry than any
other format yet... Like a minidisc, you can compress your sound by 10:1
and it still sounds pretty decent. This makes it handy for distribution of
music over the internet. It also has no copy protection schemes... All of
these features have put quite a scare into the recording industry and many
worry about their ability to make money off of their music.

The strength of the CD now is the fact that there are probably billions of
CD players out there in use around the world. It is THE medium of choice
for music delivery right now. In recording circles, there are a large
number of other ways of doing digital recording, but none have a delivery
format as of yet. DVD-Audio, DSD and other formats are maturing, but they
have not really hit market yet. Then, you have to convince people that they
need to replace 15 years of CD collecting with a new (questionably) better
medium. Whether we like it or not, CD will be around for quite awhile
longer.

Minidisc recording is a lot easier to do
> than using a
> CD recorder, the sound quality for analog material is just as
> good, and the
> disks are easier to store. Recordable CDs don't play in every player and
> are finicky to make.

Minidisc is easier than making a CD on a computer, but the original question
was about converting Vinyl to CD for ARCHIVAL purposes so that people in a
library could listen.... As I said before, we do not know how long MD will
stay around. It has just begun to catch on in this country. But realize
this is their second go at the format. When I was in High School, the first
players/recorders hit the market. It flopped miserably. Today, it is being
marketed fairly successfully as a medium to put mixes of your music on or
for other recording. (like a cassette). It is really difficult to buy
pre-recorded minidiscs in your standard music store.

Yes, some CD players have difficulty with CD-R, but it is generally with
older players and with discs that are not burned as disc-at-once. When many
of these standard recorders do their thing, the laser is turned off when you
hit pause. That is referred to as a multi-session disc. Computers can
handle this, but only some audio cd players can. My comment was that you
will have much better success with CDs made on a computer that with a stand
alone recorder. If you use good quality media for burning CDs, you will
have a much higher acceptance rate. In about 3-4 years of burning CDs for
clients, I have NEVER had one return as unplayable. Then again, I use only
the best media....

>
> As far as bit rot. I think that's an urban legend that was perpetrated by
> vinyl record makers. I suspect most CDs will be just as good 200
> years from
> now as they are today - if you can find something to play them on.

As bit rot is concerned, another drawback to the CDR is that every time you
play them on a normal CD player, they will degrade a little bit. A strong
laser is used to "burn" holes in the dye (to change the reflectivity for the
pickup laser). Every time another laser hit it, it will change the dye
formulation a little bit. Over a long, long period of time, it has been
shown that you can actually wear out a CDR. Bit rot is not a urban legend.

As for the Audiophile concerns.... I am a firm believer in analog
technologies. If you have a really great turntable, you can have a
spectacular sound. One of my favorite recording mediums is 15 ips analog
tape using Dolby SR. When I go into the field, I often use tube microphones
and tube preamps... Anything to offset the harsh sound of much digital
recording. Whether or not is is "better" than a CD, that is an argument
that has been beaten to death and isn't worth fighting. Analog vs.
digital....

My opinions here are based upon a knowledge gained from working in the
recording field every day and keeping up with all the technologies being
offered... So for now, this was my $0.02 (or by now perhaps a quarter....)

--Ben

Benjamin Maas
Freelance Clarinetist and Recording Engineer
Los Angeles, CA
benmaas@-----.com
http://www.fifthcircle.com

---------------------------------------------------------------------
Unsubscribe from Klarinet, e-mail: klarinet-unsubscribe@-----.org
Subscribe to the Digest: klarinet-digest-subscribe@-----.org
Additional commands: klarinet-help@-----.org
Other problems: klarinet-owner@-----.org

   
     Copyright © Woodwind.Org, Inc. All Rights Reserved    Privacy Policy    Contact charette@woodwind.org