>>>>> "pm" == phil  <phil at rephil.org> writes:

>>  Isn't this sort of stuff against the red and yellow book CD
>> standards?

pm> Who can say, since they don't say how it works.  In fact, they say
pm> they won't say, which just leaves one to wonder if it does yet.

I recall very few details of one of the implementations, but it was
described in detail on Slashdot approx. 1 month ago.  That scheme was
putting intentional errors into one (?) of the CRCs.  Reading the
straight digital gave the drive fits because the CRCs didn't match the
data.  Most/many/debatable? numbers of analog-only players go through
recovery techniques, thinking the error was a scratch or smudge.

>> Yes, it takes longer, yes, the sound quality is diminished, but if
>> you're ripping to MP3, you're losing a lot anyway so what's the
>> difference if it comes from an analog source?  Anyone with more
>> audio expertise care to comment?

Er, ripping at 4x speed isn't possible.  That inconvenience seems to
be what The Industry wants?  {shrug}

Many comments in the same Slashdot article said that "cdparanoia",
with its jitter- and error-correction techniques, has no problem
creating click-and-pop-free WAV files from these wacko discs: it just
can't do it at full drive speed.  Is the average speed faster than 1x?
I dunno, I don't have any such wacko discs to try....

-Scott
---
Scott Lystig Fritchie
Professional Governing: Is It Faked?