It's easy for us computer folk to think everyone should understand this when they don't.
A file on a computer, as Phil stated, is just numbers. This is the case whether the file is a spreadsheet, an audio file or a picture. Copying a file creates an exact copy. So you have another file with the same list of numbers. Of course, whether the file is stored on disk, cached wholly or partly in memory etc creates a unique machine state. This might affect what happens when an audio file is played. However, predicting a particular state - much less predicting whether this state makes a difference, even less predicting whether a difference would be "good" or "bad" - is a fool's errand. Honestly, it's like discussing what time of day less cosmic rays might occur. It's a dynamic layered system. But quite distinct from the physical machine state, the file contents are inviolate. Like the list of integer numbers "20, 3, 7"...you can write them down on different pieces of paper, use different pens, use crosses on the wall, it doesn't matter. The list is the list. It doesn't matter who generated the list or how. This is why the ripper doesn't matter per se. Copying files doesn't matter per se. Converting lossless formats doesn't matter per se. No one is saying all bits of paper are physically the same, or all pens inks are the same, or all marks carved into walls are the same. So yes a copy needs a new arrangement of atoms in the universe...of course. But was IS being said is the numbers represented stay the same, and they don't degrade when shuffled about. Being clear in your mind about this distinction is key to understanding IT. Computers were quite an invention...people don't appreciate it enough I feel. Darren Sent from my HTC Sensation Z710e using Tapatalk -- darrenyeats http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/richpub/listmania/byauthor/A3H57URKQB8AQO/ref=cm_pdp_content_listmania/203-7606506-5721503. SB Touch ------------------------------------------------------------------------ darrenyeats's Profile: http://forums.slimdevices.com/member.php?userid=10799 View this thread: http://forums.slimdevices.com/showthread.php?t=93549 _______________________________________________ audiophiles mailing list [email protected] http://lists.slimdevices.com/mailman/listinfo/audiophiles
