My example to put on the table is the CD I did for a DVD release.
Heres the approximate time line for it..
Soundtrack recordings were recorded at 15 ips (as far as i could find out) archival tape in 1981-82. The recordings comprised of both analog and early digital synth equipment and vocals that would have also been recorded to multitrack originally then bounced down ..
generation drop when soundtracks were added to voice and effects (most were stock effects so you have a generation drop there also) this was put on archival again in 81/82
this was then synced to 16mm film and dupes were made, so you have another 2 generation drops
Broadcast masters were then made from the film dupes onto 1" for broadcast so another drop there..
This is basically the end of the line as far as the analog side goes and although I say generation loss its not really the same as when you used to copy cassettes, there is a loss of quality but its not near the same as your standard audio cassette..
at some point after this the original soundtrack masters vanish - some say they were burnt in a studio fire.
D1 was intergrated with broadcasting and broadcasters started to move over to using those, typically archiving the older masters to it.
its at this point you could look at the audio as becoming lossy..
D-1 used PCM audio which was and still is considered modern day lossless.. but of course you instantly lose quality as soon as you convert to digital, its just the way it is.. look at an analog signal compared to a digital.. a 48khz 16bit signal can't get anywhere close to an analog waveform though audibly you wouldnt really be able to tell the difference not even back then with a top end krell and apogee ribbon speakers.. (once considered the pinnacle of audiophilia) except for perhaps the issue of a lack of warmth that the analog audiophiles complained about with the advent of CD and Dat..
These D1 masters were then used in making the various DVD release's around the globe which were typically released with 192 and 256kbps lossy mp2 or ac3 audio
..and then my dumb idea to rebuild the now considered lost soundtracks...
95% of the audio i had to use was taken from these dvds and the rest from a copy of the PCM taken from the D-1's - reason being i'd done most of the work before being offically envolved and i'd not access to better sources - nor had the dvd company aside form the UK D1 masters..
Even though 95% of the CD was created from hugely lossy material that when you look at it had been through MANY generation losses and conversons It still had to be mastered to CD specs - 44.1khz 16bit.. in the end the audio sounded as good as it could be.. slightly crap..
Amusingly I saw once someone want a copy of the CD after the release had sold out on one of the sites out there - insisting it had to be a lossless copy even though at the end of the day a 256kbps mp3 version wouldnt have really been audibly any different!!..
i think its fair to say that you probably hear lossy audio alot these days without even realising it.. did you know a percentage of tv advert voice overs are recorded and then uploaded to the ad producer as MP3's! this method is accepted now, crazy isnt it? some of the sound effects you hear on Tv and film are from lossy sources..
Some modern day sample heavy music - drum and bass for example use alot of sounds that come from breakbeat libraries - it seems that the "101 breaks collection" seems one of the main popular breakbeat libraries in drum and bass, which in its self is a huge WAV collection but some of the breakbeats were took from Mp3's by the author "101's" own admission...
funnily the more lossy the consumer market gets the less lossy the professional market gets..