Date   : Sat, 16 Jul 2005 19:31:42 +0000
From   : Jules Richardson <julesrichardsonuk@...>
Subject: Re: floppy discs

On Sat, 2005-07-16 at 09:37 +0100, Pete Turnbull wrote:
> On Jul 15 2005, 18:35, Tim Fardell wrote:
> > Having said that, I still wouldn't choose it - I'd go for a
> low-sample-rate PCM
> > WAV and PKZIP it.
> 
> That's a bad idea for several reasons.
> 
> First problem with that is that WAV covers a multitude of sins, and not
> all systems can decode all WAV files.

It beats mp3 though if "decodability" is a goal; it's far easier to
write a wav decoder than it'd be to write an mp3 decoder...

> Then, if you want compression, use AIFC or one of the standard
> compression schemes built into WAV, not an external type.

I suppose that could come down to whether an external compression method
was 'better' in some way (more widespread, better compression, able to
do error correction etc.)

>   Lastly, it's not what people are already doing.

That's the important bit in this case I'd say. Tape data shouldn't be
*that* complex and I wouldn't expect it warrants reinventing the
wheel...

cheers

Jules