CD - a dated format???

[Kenneth Fernandes]

They were used in the UK for rationing during WWII.
The modern method of manufacturing powdered eggs was developed in the 1930s by Albert Grant and Co. of the Mile End Road, London.

In today's remote working era, very few would opt for powered eggs over free-range whole ones.

 

[12th Monkey]

I think we've probably strayed as far from topic as has ever been seen...

 

[DCarmi]

Are you in the UK?
If so, be aware:

Ripping music and films illegal again after High Court overturns new law

It's now illegal - again - to copy CDs or DVDs you've bought onto your MP3 player, your computer or other devices.

www.bbc.com

The UK has quite a few fairly archaic and ridiculous laws which are never enforced, such as this one.
Prosecutions are only likely if significant resale of media were involved.

 

[nopiano]

I think we've probably strayed as far from topic as has ever been seen...

It’s definitely been a, er, free-ranging debate! 😉🙃

 

[DCarmi]

It’s definitely been a, er, free-ranging debate! 😉🙃

Yup! But it does keep the forum lively and the topic was... ermm... asking for it! 😉

 

[Freddy58]

I think we've probably strayed as far from topic as has ever been seen...

What’s that got to do with the price of eggs? 🙂

 

[tsaoandy]

I grew up from the CD era, if I didn't give most of them away due to moving countries, I probably have around 2000 CDs by now. Years ago I bought Esoteric CD/SACD player(about 18 years old), it's still sitting on the hi-fi rack. After I played around with external DAC which made my aging Esoteric sound less detailed, I'm using it as transport only now. Since my DAC is connected to both stream and the CD player, I can compare them (although digital out from CD player is coaxel and I use USB for the streamer, however they are both audioquest carbon cable) Esoteric as transport has better sound stage, feels a bit more analogue, but the sound signature of the DAC seems to have the major impact on the whole presentation. In case you are wondering, I am talking about 5% difference here, and I don't have a fancy streamer or DAC either, it's just Bluesound Node N130 through external DAC (Topping D90SE) Software and hardware is improving in an unprecedented fast speed, put it this way, I love the Esoteric/TEAC technology with the transport, but I won't be buying Esoteric again simply because the price they're offering. CD is still very good, and for me it makes sense to own a physical copy, but kids today(gosh I'm old) don't have the concept of owning something forever because they are aware of new thing just keep coming out, the same with phones, computer even cars, but that also means stuffs are made to break or limited lifespan but that is a whole different discussion.

 

[Dom]

I grew up from the CD era, if I didn't give most of them away due to moving countries, I probably have around 2000 CDs by now. Years ago I bought Esoteric CD/SACD player(about 18 years old), it's still sitting on the hi-fi rack. After I played around with external DAC which made my aging Esoteric sound less detailed, I'm using it as transport only now. Since my DAC is connected to both stream and the CD player, I can compare them (although digital out from CD player is coaxel and I use USB for the streamer, however they are both audioquest carbon cable) Esoteric as transport has better sound stage, feels a bit more analogue, but the sound signature of the DAC seems to have the major impact on the whole presentation. In case you are wondering, I am talking about 5% difference here, and I don't have a fancy streamer or DAC either, it's just Bluesound Node N130 through external DAC (Topping D90SE) Software and hardware is improving in an unprecedented fast speed, put it this way, I love the Esoteric/TEAC technology with the transport, but I won't be buying Esoteric again simply because the price they're offering. CD is still very good, and for me it makes sense to own a physical copy, but kids today(gosh I'm old) don't have the concept of owning something forever because they are aware of new thing just keep coming out, the same with phones, computer even cars, but that also means stuffs are made to break or limited lifespan but that is a whole different discussion.

You have an impressive sound system.

 

[Rodolfo]

It is very simple.
Of course audio CD or data CD use exactly the same technology. Be it the disk or the optical drive. As they are identical, they use EFM (eight-to-fourteen modulation), CIRC (Cross-Interleaved Reed-Solomon Code), etc., etc.

The only difference is that an audio CD uses all 2352 bytes per block for samples, while CD-ROMs use only 2048 bytes per block, with most of the rest going to ECC (Error Correcting Code) data. The rationale is that audio data literally disappears into the air. No need for 100%. I bet none of us has ever heard our CD player interpolating instead of delivering the real bits.
In case of distribution of data or software, a bit error is "fatal" as it will corrupt our data or software hence the distribution media must be "bit perfect".

So by design bit perfect reading of an audio CD is not guaranteed (and not needed either).
In practice audio CDs are ripped "bit perfect" most of the time.
We know this because the AccurateRip database tells us so.

I use MusicBee to manage my digital music on three Windows machines, and to play it mostly on one of them, my phones, and a DAP or two. MusicBee also offers AccurateRip-rip options for the more worried/compulsive/demanding types. Such rips take longer than my regular (careless to some, care-free to me) one-or-two-minute rips. I rip regularly to FLAC or 320kbps. On rare occasions, I note an error in a listen and I'll re-rip. A minor rare inconvenience -that's all.

 

[Rodolfo]

@jy999 ...a dated format???
YES, but you ask or note it as if it's a bad thing: I am too, thankfully. Your "dated" is my tried and true, known to be worthy, proven gratifying.

I own 4 CD/SACD/DVD players -they all spin tried and true CDs, though one is only a boxed backup to my main music CD player. And that's not counting a blue-ray player and a 6-CD in-dash unit in my car.

Next question.