CD burning: Consumer Reports' take - rec.music.classical.recordings

Message from discussion CD burning: Consumer Reports' take

tho...@antispam.ham

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More options Aug 4 2007, 3:35 pm

Newsgroups: rec.music.classical.recordings

From: tho...@antispam.ham

Date: 04 Aug 2007 19:35:14 GMT

Local: Sat, Aug 4 2007 3:35 pm

Subject: Re: CD burning: Consumer Reports' take

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Kimba W. Lion writes:
> MIFrost wrote:
>> According to a recent issue of "Consumer Reports" magazine, "Once you've
>> burned a CD, you can't make digital copies of it." "When you burn a copy of
>> a digital CD, the copy is analog, not digital. And copies might not be as
>> high quality as originals, although the average ear won't be able to hear
>> the difference."
> Another example of CU spouting garbage when they obviously know absolutely
> nothing about the subject. (Anyone remember their laughable speaker
> reviews?)

> CDs are digital. There is no such thing as an "analog CD".

> The only reason a copy won't sound the same as the original is if
> something went horribly wrong in the copying process, and then there
> wouldn't be the slightest doubt there was something wrong.

> Consumer Reports' articles never matched my experience. And then came the
> "filth in food sells magazines" scandal. I don't know why they're still
> around.

Judging from what the majority of the respondents have written in this
thread, they obviously don't know as much as CU, so I find it ironic
that they should criticize CU as spouting garbage.

There's something known as the Serial Copy Management System that allows
a single digital copy to be made. If you try to make a digital copy of
that copy, SCMS cuts in and prevents it from happening. The only way you
can make a copy of that copy is to go through an analog conversion
process. To be sure, that analog signal can be redigitized and written
to another CD. So yes, CDs are digital, but there is such a thing as an
"analog CD", in the sense that the source and copy may not be identical,
bit for bit, having gone through a D --> A and A --> D process.

Computer CD writers are primarily intended for data, not audio signals,
and therefore usually don't have SCMS. Meanwhile, consumer standalone
audio CD writers usually do have SCMS, though "professional" grade gear
may not. That is, in fact, the main difference between the Sony D-100
and M-1 DAT recorders. The consumer D-100 has SCMS, while the professional
M-1 allows the user to set the SCMS code to his preference and can
therefore allow an infinite number of digital copy generations.

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