[ARSCLIST] MP3 bit rates and usage factors for Web pages

["Richard L. Hess" <ArcLists@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Hello,

I'm undertaking the first phase of a larger digitization project that 
will result in WAV files on a University digital archive and MP3 
files to be downloaded from a web page.

As I understand it at the moment (the tapes are being packed to ship 
to me) the recordings are reasonable-to-good quality oral-history interviews.

The questions that I have are:

(1) What bit-rate of MP3 and other special coding settings do 
you/your archive use for Web-based listening/downloading of these files?

(2) Do you have any restrictions about stream-only vs. download or stream?

(3) Do you have any utilization figures for general, long-form (not 
clip) usage of oral-history interviews. I realize that your archive 
may be of greater/lesser/equal interest than the one I'm doing, so 
this is only a shot in the dark, but it would be interesting to know. 
Obviously, if you've recovered the 18.5 minutes of the Watergate 
tape, that would be a useless number to this exercise <smile>.

Any other comments would be appreciated including if you think there 
is a better format to MP3 for long-term access.

Thanks!

Richard

Richard L. Hess                   richard@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Aurora, Ontario, Canada       http://www.richardhess.com/
Detailed contact information: http://www.richardhess.com/tape/contact.htm