> I cannot see how it is all opinion, for one must be able to compare the > output bit files in hex and see the differences compared to the > original. But then again if the output is compressed perhaps it is not > so easy but has not somebody else already done this?
The opinion comes in when you ask "is being pedantically absolutely correct important?" With raw .WAV files (PCM) its trivial to run a diff on the files and see that they are identical. Or run a MD5 or SHA1, or even a checksum. For most CDs, nearly any ripper will get all the bits. For those CDs, there is no issue, no place for opinion, the bits are identical. For some small number of CDs or combinations of CDs and drives, you get different bits. Things like AccuRip attempt to answer "are these the right bits?" altho I'm not sure they are actually answering anything more than "lots of people got these bits from that CD" which can be a very strong statement, but does not mean that "these are the bits that the Mastering Engineer wanted on the CD." If the pressing house screwed up the transfer, then they would press bits that the Mastering Engineer didn't want. To me, the bigger question is: how much is approaching perfect bit retrieval important? And for me, th answer is: I care about the music, not the geek stuff. If it sounds good, it is good. On a few CDs, I didn't like the sound, and reripped them using EAC. Sometimes that improves the sound, and sometimes the sound on the CD just sucks. -- Pat Farrell http://www.pfarrell.com/ _______________________________________________ ripping mailing list [email protected] http://lists.slimdevices.com/lists/listinfo/ripping
