Film is rearranged metal particles on tape which are read by an electromagnet. CDs are discs with burned pits in them which are read by a laser. What makes one analog and one digital?
In: Technology
It’s all about the encoding.
In a magnetic tape, the strength of the magnetic field is directly related to the strength of the sound – so to play it, all you have to do, is turn it into electricity, multiply it by the volume, and turn it into sound. The magnetic field is a direct analog to the sound produced.
By contrast, a digital signal is encoded. It’s basically a series of numbers, and the strength of the digital signal has nothing to do with the strength of the sound produced – as long as it’s strong enough to be understood, the system will work. So, to produce sound, the computer reads the signal, calculates the sound represented by the signal, and directs a DAC (digital-to-analog converter), to produce a sequence of voltages analogous to the sound.
Latest Answers