Re: [ARSCLIST] Audio History In a Nutshell?

[Mike Richter <mrichter@xxxxxxx>]

Steven C. Barr(x) wrote:

> Is there ANY way to look at the digital content (the actual bits in byte
> form) that are on an audio CD? Obviously, they wouldn't tell you much,
> since they are NOT the actual sound content (until processed by various
> algorithms)...but, for example, I can use DOSSHELL to look at the bytes
> on any floppy disk or hard drive...but it won't/can't show me the
> digital data present on an audio CD...!
>
> If this is a digital entity, it stands to reason it must have digital
> data on it...as well, sequences of bits HAVE to form bytes (whether
> or not the data is in byte form, right?)...

No. And yes.

The bits on the disc are written in a complex pattern to deal with the 
relatively high error rate on optical media; there's a page in the 
primer at my WWW site on the matter, written by someone who is 
knowledgable and marginally comprehensible to me.
  http://www.mrichter.com/cdr/primer/bits.htm

It is impossible with conventional hardware to see the bits as they are 
written since they are decoded and correlated in the drive hardware. You 
can see the bits as the hardware has interpreted them with a program 
such as Infinadyne's CD/DVD Inspector.
  http://www.infinadyne.com/

Note that this and related forensic programs (I only know this one) may 
deliver more than you want at a price that may deter the casual user.

Mike
--
mrichter@xxxxxxx
http://www.mrichter.com/