Should Sound Quality of Computer Audio be improved

Pettyofficer,

SSD may help if you are worried. I am sure the magnetic drive will last long enough to be backed up.

I was under the impression that CDs if kept under the correct conditions were said to last 25years. This may refer to the writable ones though. Although I did read that the early CDs could start to flake after a while. If memory serves it was due to the type of black print used on the label side. Anyone else remember that?

The primary concern about CD logevity, so far, has not been realized. Before CD, there was actually the video laser disc. The disc is a sandwich of plastic with a metal layer in between. That layer of aluminum could corrode if exposed to air. With a lot of the laser discs, the gluing of the plastic layers was not perfect and air managed to work its way into the sandwich and oxide the aluminum. This was referred to as laser rot. I saw the result with quite a few laser discs. The CD is made differently and very few have suffered from such oxidation problems. I think that CDs are quite robust.

No one has even challenged my premiss of Hard Drives being the equivalent of "Cassette Tapes on Disks with magnetic particles of 1's and 0's". Does this mean that you all agree with it? If so, the same threats to magnetic flux based Cassette Tape still remain the same threats to Hard Drives.

Your concern about magnets and hard drives is misplaced, PettyOfficer, for two reasons. I'm happy to discuss them here.

1) Digital files can be stored on any medium you choose, PettyOfficer. A number of digital storage mediums are impervious to being Degaussed and suffering data loss. USB drives and solid state disks are both common formats which would survive your theoretical "gigantic magnet" test.

2) Hard Drive degaussing requires prolonged exposure to electromagnets that weigh more than you can carry and require a connection to an electrical socket. Those magnets are not only *incredibly* powerful, but they are designed to produce a very specialized field for the sole purpose of erasing a hard drives. Normal magnets, even "gigantic" magnets, won't do the trick without really prolonged exposure, upwards of 30 minutes. Unless you simply leave your hard drives lying around next to your computer case, this is unlikely enough a situation as to be practically impossible.

Hard drives are not cassette tapes. Not all magnets (or magnetic storage devices) are created equal.

Really, any scenario where my drives are exposed to a giant magnet powerful enough to erase them is no more likely than my disks being exposed to an open fire capable of melting them. Everything physical can be destroyed.

For comparison, I work for the Department of State. My office routinely deals in information classified at a TS/SCI level, which is literally as crucial as data could possibly be. That data is safely stored on magnetic hard drives.

Still, no one will even try to answer why there is no replacement guarantee on Music Files if anything should happen to them. Give me the logic and reason behind that!

Also not so. I am happy to relieve you of this fear as well. iTunes (for example) will allow you to download any of your purchases numerous times. Amazon does the same, as does BandCamp, 7digital, and countless others.

More to the point, though, who is providing you with a guarantee on your CDs? We've already established that Hard Disks are as safe as CDs for storing data, but should my hard drive be destroyed by, say, a natural disaster, I could retrieve all my data from a cloud backup or re-download it from the store where I bought it. Could you take your story and a hand-written list of albums you lost to a Tower Records and expect the same?

If you can provide any evidence that hard disks are susceptible to magnetic erasure (degaussing) that I didn't find, do so here. Otherwise, you're making an assertion you now know to be untrue.

Theebout,

Thank you for your thoughts and information.

A lot of discussion here brings to mind what an ambassador once said about his role in the Middle East and the emails he received for his work. It goes something like this:

"Instant access to information does not mean instant access to knowledge, much less wisdom. In the past, information was integrated with experience. Today, it is integrated with emotion. Digital technology has played an important role in fostering this atmosphere of bad manners, vicious personal attacks, intolerance and disrespect. Bullying has gone viral."

This is not to say that anyone here has gone THAT far but one can see where anonymity gives rise to unrestrained modes of thinking.

All the best,
Nonoise

Sorry, Theebout. You have taken an extreme version of my premise, and tried to use the extreme to nullify any arguement. You have to completely erase the entire Hard Drive to even slightly corrupt the Music Files stored on it? I think you know better, and so do I. I also believe that Electronic Devices (Like SSD) are succeptible to extreme Electro-Magnetic Radiation, as in a Solar Flare. Same Solar Flare can wipe out any source for replacement of Music Files. There is risk involved dealing with an etheral Format like Music Files. Even if I were wrong, TWO
Formats (Not One) would reduce the risk to the Consumer/ Music Lover. This is not to even mention the usual Ills that affect Computers/ Music Files (Viruses, Malware, Defragmentation...etc...etc...etc). You want me to live wrecklessly with my Music based on a single fragile Audio Format? I say two heads are better than one (Did I.Q.'s just drop sharply on the practical application of this Knowledge, and Wisdom?). In any event, one Adult to another, who here has the right to force anyone to take additional risk on their personal buying choices? Atleast I support a choice, you propose only one. Maybe I am just a fruitcake Audiophile, but numerous Format sources of my favorite Music is my best back-up. Back-up Hard Drive just
another Life Preserver with the same holes in it (Succeptibility) as the original Hard Drive. They are the same mechanism. My goal isn't to dismiss Computer Audio (Something implied that I never CLAIMED), but that Computer Audio- and CD seem to work pretty well together. I am just not willing to bet the Farm on either/or. Not thoughts, or information- just some plain stubborn American Common Sense. Give me something (Or Two) that is robust enough for me to rely upon (For My Music). You can keep the intellectual exercise, I am just a fool who likes listening to Music. You want to limit me on this...WHY???
Your facts have come up short on adequate explanation for this, atleast certainly to my satisfaction. You demand that I make a sacrifice where one isn't necessary, like cutting off your nose to spite your face! IT-MAKES-NO-SENSE! Endless factoids won't fill that vacuum. Nice piece of info though, now lets try some practical application- where does one Audio Format alone have the benefit of that same Format plus another? As you have said, "Everything Physical can be destroyed". That goes for both Formats. This seems to make an arguement for keeping both Formats around. Your single Format benefits who, and for what???
It only imposes more limitations on those who listen to Music, as if a limitation is a benefit (2 - 2 = 4) Your 4 is only an imaginary benefit like Computer Audio. Check your Math again. Not interested in using your Math-Sorry!
The result is actually 0, which leaves me short on my music. Not interested in "Shell Games", where it comes to reducing my Music Selection. I don't see Downloadable Music Files increasing by ten-thousand, to replace the dwindling ten-thousand CDs now out of print. Who should go without their Music while we move toward a single Audio Format (Don't say MP3)? Maybe is not the fragility of Computer Audio that is the issue, maybe it is the execution (CD/Lack of Music Selection) of it taking over. No logical reason to take a hit on Music Selection during a Format turnover- NO REASON WHAT SO EVER! You haven't got the selection to take over anything- EGADS! KEEP WORKING ON IT! Computer Audio still not good enough- N-A-A-A-H-H-H, what else have you got?