mini disc recorder

[Celso Alvarez Caccamo]

On Tue, 3 Jul 2001, Frank Proschan wrote:
>
> >>> Celso Álvarez  Cáccamo   <lxalvarz at udc.es> 07/02/01 02:55PM >>>
>
> <<snip>>
>
> 3) No equipment exists yet (yet -- see below) to make digital recordings
> without data loss which could then be transferred on-the-fly as digital
> files (e.g. MP3 or WAV) to a computer. But, since sound transfer is in real
> time, it doesn't really matter whether the original recording is digital or
> analog.

> It makes a huge difference, inasmuch as no portable analog recorder
> (not even a stereo Nagra, which none of us can afford and is too heavy
> to carry anyway) will have the same signal-to-noise ratio and other
> recording specs of a DAT recorder.

Thank you. I meant to say it doesn't matter for sound transfer speed from
the recorder to the computer: I understand it has to be done in real time
even for DAT.

I am saying this because sometimes people are confused as to what "digital
sound" involves for working with sound in the computer.  It is not the
first time that I've heard someone asking for a "digital recorder" in
order to transfer the sound to the computer. The time-consuming task of
transferring and/or digitalizing recordings is not saved by using DAT, I
understand. On the other hand, time is saved by using MP3, but sound
quality is lost through compression.

Do people agree that this story could be summarized like this?:

SOUND FORMAT	SOUND COMPRESS.	TRANSFER TO PC	       TRANSFER SPEED

MiniDisc	Yes		Digital->digital ?	Real time
MP3		Yes		Digital file		Fast
Good analog	No		Analog->Digital		Real time
DAT		No		Digital->Digital	Real time
Upcoming
 Audio CD
 Recorder	No		Digital file		Fast

So, if I understand it correctly, the only device that will fulfill the
needs of no sound compression + fast digital transfer will be the Audio
CD recorder.

-celso
lxalvarz at udc.es