h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Note: Just read this in another section of H2G2, thanks to Audiophile (U562191) - just thought i'd put it here to show everyone else...
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The letter posted below, has gone out to Sony, Philips, the Audio Engineering Society and many, many other institutions, Music Industry companies and Publications.
To the reader: Please pass this letter on to any and all that might be able to realize the concept proposed in the letter. Doing so should benefit everyone.

________________________________________________________________________

ALL DECISION-MAKERS IN YOUR COMPANY, ORGANIZATION,
OR PUBLICATION




21 January 2004

Gentlemen:

Today, everyone knows that copyright protection of recorded music is of major concern to music companies. Unlicensed and illegal music copying via the Internet is rampant.

Here is a disarmingly simple, but effective way to eliminate music piracy at all levels, even including the burning of CD copies, while at the same time, guaranteeing superior sound quality.

Please, bear with me as I explain.

The Internet is digital technology. The Internet transports digital information encoded on music CDs, and it does this with great accuracy. Copy protection schemes have not adequately prevented illegal copying, or transmission of copyrighted music, which is marketed and easily pirated via digital technology.

Huge sums of money are being spent on lawsuits attempting to protect music copyrights, apparently with limited and varying results.

If today's digital music formats, CD, SACD, DVD-A, MP3, etc., were replaced with ALD---Analog Laser Disc---technology, then the all-analog process used by an Analog Laser Disc Player could not be transported over the internet, nor could any copies be burned, without first needing cumbersome and problematic analog-to-digital conversion. In addition, such suddenly archaic conversion would likely result in poorer sound quality.

So here it is :
A new laser-based all-analog music format---perhaps realized via a simple variable-width reflective spiral, or some innovative new technology, utilizing familiar laser-guiding technology currently in use. This concept realized on a CD-sized disc, marketed and played on an
all-analog laser player!

The music industry thus could solve its major copyright problem.

Apart from the substantial benefit to the music industry, new and valuable patents can be generated for such innovative technology.

Needless to say, the first commercial interests holding related patents on ALD technology would benefit the most.

The copyright "Achilles heel" of CD technology as it is marketed today, lies in the fact that anyone with an inexpensive CD burner can (pirate) make perfect copies of copyrighted music for around 25 cents a copy.

In consideration of royalties paid, commercial interests holding ALD-related patents, could ensure that the sale of ALD recording equipment and ALD copy burners is limited to bona fide recording studios only.

As an added bonus, this breakthrough and new laser-based analog format would end the current war between the competing and evermore complex PCM and DSD technologies. Obsolete!

Recording studios easily and immediately would accept ALD mastering as the logical, undisputed, and unrivaled Reference Archival recording format.

Audio publications, worldwide, will rush into print with free, enthusiastic and ongoing positive publicity. There is little doubt that these publications---long critical of "digital sound," also would embrace ALD technology instantly.

Gentlemen, there is a great deal to be gained here for those with vision in the music industry!

This letter will be sent via the Internet to all known major international music companies, the RIAA organization, editors of audio publications worldwide, and all other possibly interested parties.

Thank you for your attention.

Sieg Modes
E-mail: [email protected]

It can't be done. It's impossible.
I will explain if you reply.

Ok, i have nothing better to do... Been up for 6 hours, and it's only 10:50 am now...
Do youmean impossible, as in the technology, or impossible, as it'll never catch on?
I was just passing it on...

Justin

erm ... sorry, but i don't ever believe anything that begins:

"Please pass this letter on to any and all that might be able to realize the concept proposed in the letter. Doing so should benefit everyone."

It would still be possible to copy ALDs into an MP3 or equivalent format in the same way it is currently possible to backup your vinyl and tape collections, through a line in socket (which the vast majority of the ripper programs allow you do do already). No doubt as soon as that tech were to come on the market someone would be on the case writing the software needed to rip directly from an ALD disk put straight into your PC (most likely in an ALD drive).

I'm also not sure the public would welcome yet another audio disc format at the moment as that would require them to have yet another bit of hardware for them to be used with, so it would also be financially unviable for the disc and hardware manufacturers. Maybe once the fight for top dog between CD, SACD and DVD-A has been sorted out then perhaps a new format would be accepted. Until then, I doubt it's gonna happen.

Its impossible because you can't get lasers to read/write in an analog manner because when the laser hits the disk it either reads/writes a On bit or it reads/writes an Off bit. This is of course a digital signal. Analog would be impossible because you couldn't get a laser to r/w a partially on or off bit. You can't get the light from the laser to be sort of on or sort of off.

You could have an analog laser system if there were some way of pressing a disc of variable reflectivity (variable-width track of darker or lighter substance than the disc background.

However, it'd be prone to noise problems from surface damage, which digital CDs can avoid (or at least minimise) due to
a) the fact that a digital signal can suffer significant noise before the digital signal is affected at all and
b) the use of error-correcting codes to remove or reduce more serious problems.

As said above, the method wouldn't provide any real copy protection since the analog signal could be easily digitised and recorded to CD or MP3 file. The only slight advantage would be that you might have to take an hour to rip an album to disc via your sound card, rather than the few minutes an audio CD would take. Once an album had been MP3ed and posted on the net there wouldn't be any difference.

The installed base of CD players and drives is already so huge that it is difficult to release albums in a special format without also releasing a CD version, so unless an anlogue format was much cheaper, it's unlikely anyone would want to buy one, or a drive to play it on.

It seems likely many otherwise law-abiding people would be happy to use an illegal copy just for the convenience of playing on their existing hardware, as they may also end up doing if *digital* copy-protection systems become too draconian.