Re: [ARSCLIST] Audio History In a Nutshell?

["Steven C. Barr(x)" <stevenc@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Richard L. Hess" <arclists@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
> At 11:17 PM 2007-12-06, Steven C. Barr(x) wrote:
> 
> >Question...! Am I correct in assuming that the actual digits to which these
> >pointers "point" are NOT the actual audio content as sampled each 44.1th
> >of a second...but, rather, digits which have to be converted (digitally)
> >to those "sonic content" bits?
> 
> At some point, the drive handles the error correction codes. In 
> CD-ROM there are only error correction codes, whereas in CD-A there 
> is also an error concealment option if the error is uncorrectable.
> 
> At the output of the drive on the multi-wire ribbon cable, you are 
> getting bits/bytes of audio or files as you see them. The scrambled 
> data on the CD (interleaved and coded) is internal to the disc and 
> the related drive, as I understand it, the computer doesn't have to 
> deal with the drive overhead--this is the same in hard disks as well.
> 
> One might say there is a layer (layers) of indirection between the 
> electrical I/O of the drive and the bit patterns on the optical 
> media. Without these PROMs, the optical media is useless, 
> effectively. This is one of the challenges down the road of reading 
> these formats. No players, no read...or you can dig up the old 
> literature and re-engineer the silicon, I guess. Right. Save some drives.
> 
This is what I had always assumed...! Thanxes muchly.

So, if some 32nd century archaeologist (if life lasts that long...?!)
discovers a buried CD...he/she/it will have NO way of knowing it
contains information...and, worse yet, even if that is known the
knowledge of how to retrieve the contents will probably have been
long since lost...?!

Whereas, if the same party discovers a 78, running a fingernail along
the groove will quickly reveal it contains sonic information...!

So, we just hope that the 32nd century finder, if extra-planetary,
comes from a culture where "sound" (series of vibrations transmitted
through the atmosphere) is used to convey information...which may NOT
be the case...

Steven C. Barr