[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next][Date Index][Thread Index]
Re: [ARSCLIST] Memorex CDs and more!
----- Original Message -----
From: "Karl Miller" <lyaa071@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
> Which, brings me back to my concern over a "universal" database for audio
> recordings. We have so much to do, so little time and resources. If we
> don't know what has been preserved, we might very well be duplicating
> effort.
In fact, we don't even have a universal database FORMAT! Information on
existing sound recordings, insofar as it is kept, is usually in the
format of whatever program the collector/institution uses to catalog
his/her/its collection(s)...and, in many cases, these are kept in
"hard copy" form (i.e. my 78 collection is partially catalogued on
about 15,000 typed 3x5 cards, using my own system!).
Even for commercial 78rpm recordings (I would estimate there were about
three million different ones issued 1889-1960) there are no universal
database(s) available...for example, suppose I want a list of all the
78rpm issues of "Stardust"...no way to get it. Now, if we wanted to
include all the private recordings, in any format...all the reel-to-
reel homemade tapes, the cassettes, the wire recordings, the CD-R's, usw...
we increase the number of potential data records substantially. How many
people taped a high school band concert...a local group playing in
a local bar...Uncle Fred playing the family piano...Aunt Matilda
singing in the living room...and so on...
...And think of the number of unlabelled and thus unidentifiable
instantaneous disc recordings...tape recordings in various formats...
The mind boggles!
Steven C. Barr