Re: [ARSCLIST] Copyright and hard drives

[Steven Smolian <smolians@xxxxxxxxx>]

One way of looking at this issue is determining what is commonly available
and what equipment ordinary technicians can fix.  A survey of at least one
local pawn shop tells me that it's only CD players that meet this test.

So at least one copy should be on CD.  I actually suggest two, one TY, one
Mitsui.  From a large batch, store numbers 1,3,5,7,9, etc. of the TYs off
site and 2,4,6,8,10, etc. on Mitsui.  The others are service copies.
Assuming good storage conditions, those of one brand will probably show
signs of trouble before the other.  When one brand starts to go bad,
reintegrate the collection and copy those on the other brand to the future
medium de jour.  This is an early warning system.

Unless you use a brand of a true CD blank manufacturer, you will never know
who really made the media sold by second-level marketers, such as 3M, etc.,
who buy ain bulk from the least expensive source and put their own labels on
them.

Steve Smolian

=========================
Steven Smolian    301-694-5134
Smolian Sound Studios
---------------------------------------------------
CDs made from old recordings,
Five or one or lifetime hoardings,
Made at home or concert hall,
Text and pics explain it all.
at www.soundsaver.com
=========================
----- Original Message -----
From: "Joel Bresler" <joel.br@xxxxxxxxxxx>
To: <ARSCLIST@xxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Monday, March 10, 2003 11:29 AM
Subject: Re: [ARSCLIST] Copyright and hard drives


> Peter,
>
> Intriguing points, all, but an open source  _file format_ is just the
first
> step, as you allude to in your message.
>
> In playback, does the BL intend as a fail-safe method to use an "open
> source" software decoder for CDs? Does this decoder run under the (open
> source) Linux operating system? Is the hardware running the Linux software
> built on proprietary or open source chips/components? (If there is such a
> thing as the latter...)
>
> Thanks,
>
> Joel
>
> At 10:52 AM 3/10/2003 +0000, you wrote:
> >Dear All,
> >   but I have the
> >following objection to using hard drives for "serious archival work"
(which
> >I consider different from *exploitation* work)!
> >     As far as I know, all hard drives (and indeed DLT and its rivals)
> >involve *software*, and there is always copyright in software. This
includes
> >both the error-correction system and the formatting of the medium.
> >     A couple of months ago, we heard about California introducing
> >*permanent* copyright for some purposes, which might mean ARSC members in
> >that unhappy place would *never* be able to reproduce sounds from
> >software-controlled media when the hardware fails. Even if it were
possible
> >to import legal copies of the software from somewhere else, it would have
> >been "compiled" for a particular microprocessor (for example Intel or
> >Motorola), and it seems very unlikely that such chips would be available
in
> >fifty years' time, which is the term for software here in the United
> >Kingdom. This problem can only be circumvented by having access to the
> >"source code" (written in a standardised computer language), and then
buying
> >"compiler" software for new generations of microprocessors. (The
compilers
> >will also be copyright, of course!)
> >     In my view, the solution is to use only "open standards" for storing
> >sound. This is why the British Library Sound Archive chose "Red Book"
CD-R
> >discs; when the Philips/Sony patents for CDs expired, it became such an
> >"open standard". (And the same technology is familiar to users for
on-site
> >access). When other sampling-frequencies or bit-resolutions need to be
> >stored, I know my successor is thinking in terms of Broadcast Wave format
> >(like Sue Salinger), which again is an open standard.
> >Peter Copeland
> >
> >-----Original Message-----
> >From: Joel Bresler [mailto:joel.br@xxxxxxxxxxx]
> >Sent: 05 March 2003 03:19
> >To: ARSCLIST@xxxxxxxxxxxx
> >Subject: Re: [ARSCLIST] Archiving to hard drive
> >
> >Sue wrote:
> >
> > >You're likely to have to migrate off the cd's or server at some point
in
> > >the near future...
> >
> >Thanks for the helpful post. Once the music is on a server (presumably on
a
> >hard disk) why would it necessarily need to be migrated? SCSI drives have
> >built in error correction, and the data could be mirrored on another hard
> >disk for security. Isn't this the most likely long-term data storage
> >solution, bar none?
> >
> >Best,
> >
> >Joel
> >
> >
>
>**************************************************************************
> >
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> >graphic work of 13 contemporary artists
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>
>
> Joel Bresler
> 250 E. Emerson Rd.
> Lexington, MA 02420
> USA
>
> 781-862-4104 (Telephone & FAX)
> joel.br@xxxxxxxxxxx