Introduction

The arguments over the relative merits of digital and analogue audio will no doubt roll on for many years to come. Here are some thoughts to help you decide.

Just in case it slipped your mind ...

• Analogue audio is so called because the "shape" or pattern of an electrical or magnetic energy audio signal is analogous (looks like) to the original pattern of changing air pressure.
• Digital audio is a mathematical description of this shape which travels as a pulse wave, and looks nothing like the original pattern of changing air pressure.

Pros n cons

	Advantages	Disadvantages
Analogue	Once recorded, audio is stored/archived.2" 24 track tape is a world wide standard.Warm and natural sound?Theoretically better audio bandwidth.Tried and tested format.Editing limitations discourage constant tinkering and changing of audio.	Cheaper recorders suffer from distortion and tape noise/hiss.Tape is expensive and vulnerable to deterioration.Tape is becoming increasingly hard to buy.Recorded need constant maintenance.Linear format - tape must be wound/rewound to the location of the recording to be heard.Editing of audio difficult if not impossible.Harder to synchronise.Copying deteriorates sound.
Digital	Better sound for cheaper equipment.Potential for very low distortion and noise/hiss.Variety of recorder options (tape, optical, hard disc, RAM etc).Non-linear operation (random access). You can access any part of the recording almost immediately.Massive range of editing and processing tools.Non destructive editing (you can make copies of data and undo decisions).You can clone data.Audio can be transmitted over networks.Audio can easily be integrated into multimedia (web sites, DVD, games, video etc).	Computers can crash.Data can become corrupted.Data must be archived to optical media when hard drives become full.Confusing array of formats and recording systems.Sound quality can be too clinical/cold.Digital systems have poor multi-user interfaces.

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