Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!rpi!think.com!spool.mu.edu!cs.umn.edu!lindner
From: lindner@cs.umn.edu (Paul Lindner)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.next
Subject: Re: Showing off the sounds
Keywords: hacking, playing, wasting time... : -)
Message-ID: <1991May25.202526.19202@cs.umn.edu>
Date: 25 May 91 20:25:26 GMT
Article-I.D.: cs.1991May25.202526.19202
References: <1991May24.230242.22506@cs.mcgill.ca> <1991May25.081857.27167@cs.umn.edu> <1991May25.161653.28563@cunixf.cc.columbia.edu>
Organization: University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, CSci dept.
Lines: 55

In <1991May25.161653.28563@cunixf.cc.columbia.edu> garton@cunixa.cc.columbia.edu (Bradford Garton) writes:

>In article <1991May25.081857.27167@cs.umn.edu> lindner@cs.umn.edu (Paul Lindner) writes:

>>(Though if
>>ASCAP or BMI finds out,

>Indeed!  The SCMS/R-DAT controversy will look pretty silly once we're able
>to ftp CD-quality sounds from our favorite archive.  What will those poor
>record companies do?

>I don't mean to denigrate your project -- I think it's a pretty cool idea.
>I just hate the thought that CODEC might become "acceptable" sound quality.

I agree, MULAW is pretty crummy.  However right now I don't have the
hardware to do the A-D for CD quality. (I'm just using the microphone
jack with a voltage divider so I can use the line out of my stereo).  

Unfortunately Sun didn't have the foresight to put some decent sound on their
machines.  Though in the future it looks like they will, considering what's
in /etc/magic on a Sun:

>12     long            1               8-bit u-law,
>12     long            2               8-bit linear PCM,
>12     long            3               16-bit linear PCM,
>12     long            4               24-bit linear PCM,
>12     long            5               32-bit linear PCM,
>12     long            6               32-bit floating point,
>12     long            7               64-bit floating point,
>20     long            1               mono,
>20     long            2               stereo,
>20     long            4               quad,
>16     long            x               %d Hz

So we're stuck with the lowest common denominator which is 8bit mulaw.


I certainly hope that the record company execs are planning for a future 
where high speed networks and dense storage media are the norm.  Right
now our regional telephone company (US West) is doing research into
Metropolitan Area Networks.  According to informal sources it's going
to be a 600 Mbps SONET, with capability to go at even higher speeds.

I can see a future where the the record companies are just another node
on the net.  You'd pay a really small fee for every time you listen to
something.  (Sortof like a jukebox, essentially.)  This still doesn't leave
out the possibility of digitizing what you receive though.  There are
going to be some hard legal questions that will have to be answered in
the future.

-- 
 |Paul Lindner   |lindner@boombox.micro.umn.edu  |"You have to spit 
 |University of  |U of Minn. ACM President       | to see the shine..." 
 |Minnesota MWNC |I.T. Sun/HP Sysadmin           | -- Babes in Toyland
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