Re: [ARSCLIST] Lossy compression losing quality (was Re: [ARSCLIST] Pristine Audio and the Milllennials . . .)

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

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Howard Friedman" <hsf318@xxxxxxxxxxx>
> Mike, you wrote,
>
> 3. Copying a digital file either loses nothing or fails; the exceptions
> to that are exceedingly rare. That is, if the copy is not perfect then
> the transfer will fail, usually due to the dreaded CRC error. There is a
> tiny chance of dual failure which would permit copying a file with an
> error, but that is negligible in practice.
>
> Does that mean that ripping CDA format files from a CD to MP3 format on my
hard drive loses nothing?
>
No (or so I would assume!). When Mike said "digital file," he was
apparently referring to the digits that are used in order to play
a CD...not ANY digital representation of that content. Since one
of the reasons for creating an MP3 version of a CD's content is
to decrease the amount of storage room needed to store the file,
the MP3 by definition will not be as accurate in terms of being
a digital equivalent of a given analog source...one can't remove
bytes/bits from a digital entity without removing content (the
applicable question here is whether the content removal will
make an audible difference to human ears/brains...?!)

Steven C. Barr