Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!uwm.edu!rpi!uupsi!rodan!amichiel From: amichiel@rodan.acs.syr.edu (Allen J Michielsen) Newsgroups: sci.electronics Subject: Re: CD's and digital audio (was Why I hate CDs) Message-ID: <2514@rodan.acs.syr.edu> Date: 20 Mar 90 05:09:58 GMT References: <1554@redsox.bsw.com>.... Reply-To: amichiel@rodan.acs.syr.edu (Allen J Michielsen) Organization: Syracuse University, Syracuse, NY Lines: 32 In article <1990Mar19.163704.22192@utzoo.uucp> henry@utzoo.uucp (Henry... >In article <6296@blake.acs.washington.edu> wiml@blake.acs.washington.edu >>>>3. If you think CD's are bad, DAT has a 45DB NOTCH cut in it at 15KHZ... >>> What on earth... are... you... talking about????? >> I seem to remember this being some sort of bizarre copy protection >>scheme -- the DAT will refuse to record unless there are frequencies >>in this notch, and commercial stuff will be distributed with those >>frequencies cut out. It sounds too stupid to be true... > >It *was* too stupid to be true. There was such a proposal; it has been >scrapped. There will be some *digital* copy protection on DAT tapes, so >you can't use consumer DAT gear to make unlimited digital copies (one >generation of copies will be okay), but the notch idea to prevent analog >copying caused such an uproar that it was abandoned. Sorry, Not true. The US government had great meetings discussing passing laws to REQUIRE this 'feature'. The resolution was tabled for further study, this only meant they weren't getting involved. The last I heard, EVERY DAT deck imported to North America for the consumer market had this 'feature'. FURTHER, at last count 70% of all DAT's produced (the japanese market is much larger, but including the US) include this notch. On a regular basis, one of the digital (audio) magazines regularly publish a list of digital products that include this notch. As a matter of fact, EVERY barbara streisan (sp) DAT & CD produced in every country of the globe, legally, include this notch. Not that this effects me (give me a break) but this is slowly spreading into CD's, especially in this country. It's still a minority for cd's (thank god). My belief is that the labels are doing it so that when it becomes a potential legal issue in congress again, they can testify that they have been doing it for x years, on production runs of yy million cd's & dat's & have had like 0 complaints, BUT NOBODY KNOWS. Even the articles about it get buried in the digital (audio) press because of the vendor participation that makes those mags possible.