linuxaudio.org

Jan Depner wrote:

quoted text
> On Mon, 2004-06-28 at 02:46, Anahata wrote:

>

>>On Mon, Jun 28, 2004 at 12:35:03AM +0300, Sampo Savolainen wrote:

>>

>>>you could try to find a CD player

>>>with spdif output and, presuming you have spdif input on your computer,

>>>record the data digitally from a normal player.

>>

>>The possibility of doing this (I assume copy protected CDs can't prevent

>>it, if they can be played at all) is one more thing that makes a

>>mockery of the whole business of copy protection.

>

>

> 	What really makes a mockery of the copy protection racket is what the

> RIAA calls the "analog hole".  If I can hear it, I can copy it.  Find a

> CD player that can handle the chewed up CD, run the analog outs to your

> computer, record it.  I seriously doubt that there is anyone around who

> can tell the difference between a digitally ripped copy and a digitally

> encoded analog copy.  

I can tell the difference, if it's not done properly, and it isn't

entirely trivial to do it properly.  For starters, you need a decent

soundcard ... I've tried the stereo mini-in jack on this laptop and also

on a couple of other older motherboards / soundblasters and the quality

is _nowhere_ near the quality I get out of the VXpocket v2 with balanced

inputs, and even that's probably at the lower end of the "prosumer"

range.  Non-sound people I know can immediately tell the difference too.

  I've heard enough badly ripped vinyl recordings that I don't really

trust the general populace to make analog-to-digital encodings of any

work.  Admittedly there are more complex factors involved with vinyl

than with CD's, but if it's any indication ...
I would like to agree though, and also find copy protection of any sort

to be ridiculous, in that "if I can read it, I can copy it". It's just

that in practice there can be so many hoops to jump through that you

start asking, "why do I even want this in the first place?"
Cheers,

Chris