March 2001 ISSN 1534-0937 Walt Crawford
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Cites & Insights: Crawford at Large Volume 1, Number 3: March 2001 ISSN 1534-0937 Walt Crawford that it’s true both that “the Internet is changing eve- rything” and that “a few big, traditional companies Living with will continue to be major players in many indus- tries.” He further notes that some Internet stocks Contradictions were still good investments at their peaks—while most Internet stocks were absurdly overvalued. His he White Queen in Lewis Carroll’s Through the most heretical stance: “Amazon, most likely, will nei- Looking-Glass has useful advice for those trying ther overtake Wal-Mart nor fade into oblivion, but T to find the one true path for the future. When rather end up somewhere in between.” she tells Alice that she’s one hundred and one, five months and a day, Alice responds, “I can’t believe that!” Inside This Issue “Can’t you?” the Queen said in a pitying tone. PC Values: March 2001...................................................... 3 “Try again: draw a long breath, and shut your eyes.” Bibs & Blather.................................................................... 3 Alice laughed. “There’s no use trying,” she said: MusicMaker RIP ................................................................ 3 “one can’t believe impossible things.” Press Watch I: Articles Worth Reading.............................. 5 “I daresay you haven’t had much practice,” said Stories Between the Ads..................................................... 6 The Convergence Chronicles.............................................. 7 the Queen. “When I was your age, I always did it for Press Watch II: Commentary........................................... 10 half-an-hour a day. Why, sometimes I’ve believed as Product Watch.................................................................. 10 many as six impossible things before breakfast.” (p. Trends and Quick Takes ................................................... 13 200 in the Modern Library edition of The Complete Review Watch................................................................... 14 Works of Lewis Carroll.) I’m not sure that everyday people have that Substitute contradictory for impossible, and I’m on much trouble handling ambiguous or contradictory the side of the White Queen. It’s too easy to assume ideas—but the article is certainly right in noting that that if A is going to happen, that means that B can’t “the dynamics of the media and public discourse possibly happen—or, vice versa, that B precludes A. tend to polarize the discussion.” Ambiguity doesn’t But many contradictory situations arise because we work well in headlines or make a pundit’s reputa- substitute “all” for “most,” and the world is much tion, so the tendency is to simplify at the expense of subtler and more complex than most of us wish to the truth. consider. When I see “we all” in an article, I’m find- “Categorical statements about the future of the ing it useful to raise the same immediate yellow flag Internet Economy…are likely to be proven incorrect. that I do when I see “inevitable.” “We all want to be Wisdom lies in the ability to identify and interpret connected all the time.” “We all use cell phones.” the subtleties, and to accept that the world is a “We all watch too much television.” “We all” is gen- complicated and contradictory place.” You could erally a dangerous oversimplification. Take away the substitute “media” for “the Internet economy” or simplification, and contradictory trends can be rec- almost any hot topic you choose. onciled, if only because life tends toward complexity. A recent piece in The Industry Standard entitled Can A Copy Improve on the Original? “Living with contradictions” makes some interesting A few months ago, I was mentally belittling Michael points. “Sustaining contradictory ideas simultane- Fremer (a staff writer for Stereophile and Stereophile’s ously is one of the hardest things for the human Guide to Home Theater who firmly believes that LPs mind to do, and that goes a long way toward ex- offer better sound than CDs) for one particular arti- plaining why this kind of in-between position seems cle. As part of evaluating some device, he noted that to be rare.” That comes after the author’s suggestion he gets better sound from CD-Rs than from the Cites & Insights: Crawford at Large March 2001 1 source CDs. My response was, in essence, “That’s phile’s writers seem to tout with regularity—one rea- impossible. How can a copy of a compact disc possi- son I treat parts of Stereophile as a humor magazine. bly offer better sound than the original?” There’s the classic green marker. For a decade The ad hominem answer would be that the CD-R now, some people have claimed that you can im- copy is “better” in a special sense: that it loses just prove the sound of a CD by marking the inner and enough of the CD signal to show a bit of euphonic outer edges with a green felt marking pen. Today, distortion, making it more “musical” than the origi- Audio Prism sells “CD Stoplight,” a device that “re- nal. Another ad hominem answer is that it’s all in duces jitter” by absorbing “stray light” within a CD Fremer’s head. player—and, indeed, that’s one of the devices Stereo- Maybe that’s a lack of flexible thinking on my phile recommends. Then there’s the more expensive part. Bob Starrett’s “The CD Writer” in the Sep- CD Blacklight, a disc that you expose to bright light, tember 2000 EMedia carries the title “High fidelity: then set on top of your CD. It glows—and suppos- archiving audio to CD-R.” In this one-page treatise, edly increases stability, reduces electrostatic dis- he notes that he has opined that “the discs you charge, and reduces jitter. Other devices claim to make yourself have much lower error rates than the reduce electrostatic discharge—which, as Parker pressed CDs that you buy at the store.” Challenged notes, should be irrelevant for an optical medium. to demonstrate that assertion, he grabbed a bunch Maybe so—and you won’t find any of these bi- of AOL CD-ROMs, tested them for Block Error Rate zarre accessories on my CDs. But it’s possible to (BLER), then copied one to CD-R and tested the make a case of sorts. Yes, the device reading the CD resulting BLER. is a laser; yes, the optical path should be impervious Part of the essay was his surprise that the AOL to electrostatic issues. But that CD rides on a physi- spam tested as well as it did: error rates of 5.8 to cal assembly (and the optical signal is immediately 7.3, far below the maximum allowable 220. But his converted to electrical form), and it’s not inconceiv- CD-R copies had BLERs of 1.1 to 1.4: “Like I said, able that electrostatic interference could play a role recorded discs generally have lower error rates than at either of those two points. Unlikely, but not im- pressed discs.” possible—any more than it’s impossible for a copy of Audio CDs tend to have considerably higher a CD to sound better than the original. Dana Parker, BLERs than CD-ROMs. When he tested six brand- meet Robert Starrett. new CDs, four had BLERs between 10 and 24, while Admittedly, some tweaks go beyond the wildly one had a disturbing 142. His copies tested at 1.7 or improbable. One $180 device claims to “polarize the so: that seems to be fairly consistent. polymer” on a CD “in such a way as to maximize So what? From one perspective, none of this the laser’s ability to retrieve stored data.” For a mere should matter. A good CD drive should be able to $20 per pack, you can get Rainbow Electret Foil. recover data perfectly from a disc with BLER less than Attach a little strip of this foil over the CD logo on a 220—after all, if it didn’t recover the bitstream, how CD, or on the speed indication on a record label, or could you cut a “better” CD-R? On the other hand, on a tape cassette—or on a bottle of wine or a plant. discs with higher BLERs are likely to be more sus- It claims to “neutralize the adverse energy [created ceptible to failure through fingerprints and scratches. by interaction of all spinning discs with the gravita- Applying a little White Queen thinking, Michael tional forces] by inverting the energy pattern and Framer may not be as crazy as I thought. A disc’s therefore restoring it to a naturally occurring envi- BLER should be inaudible as long as the bitstream ronmental pattern.” You say your wine and plants can be recovered fully—but that’s also supposed to don’t spin all that much? You gotta believe! be true of a disc drive’s jitter rate (which I’m not There are three messages here: about to explain here). Reasonably sound tests sug- ¾ The improbable isn’t always impossible. I dis- gest that keen listeners can hear the difference in agree with Bob Starrett a lot, but I see no rea- drives with high jitter rates; is it possible that a high son to doubt his BLER tests. BLER also influences the sound in subtle ways? ¾ The conclusion above leads too many people That leads us into difficult territory, as Dana J. into total credulity, where they’ll believe almost Parker discusses on the last page of that same EMe- anything if the claims are packaged properly. dia in “The green flash and other urban legends.” ¾ When it comes to the musicality of your sound You may know about the green flash that supposedly system, the perceived quality of your wine, and appears just as the sun sinks below the horizon—but many other areas, the credulous people are ab- that’s not the green flash she’s interested in.