Re: [ARSCLIST] Vinegar syndrome audio tapes [ARSCLIST] Memorex CDs and more

[steven c <stevenc@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

----- Original Message ----- 
From: <Mwcpc6@xxxxxxx>
> Tom Fine wrote:
> > Despite optimistic statements and predictions, I think ALL content of
> > importance on analog reel to reel tape should be transferred to a
> > managed digital archive system in the next couple of decades.
> In a message dated 1/19/2006 10:13:48 PM Eastern Standard Time,
> stevenc@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx writes:
> handwritten notes, old
> sound recordings (usually in obsolete formats) and the like
> are generally consigned to the landfill, ocean, incinerator
> or whatever...
> Meanwhile, those of us with a historic bent are left thinking
> "I wonder why nobody saved..."
> ********************************
> We have two completely different groups here with totally different
> perspectives.
>
> Those in commercial audio were paid good money to produce their material
and
> can see the possibility of making more from it in the future, even if only
> from the $1.00 bins at Walmart. They have no problem assuming that all of
their
> work can be preserved in managed archives financed by the future value of
the
> material itself.
>
> Archivists, on the other hand, feel that there is a moral value in
preserving
> the total record of human existence, even if it will be of no interest to
> anybody until it reaches the status of George Washington's grocery list.
Lack of
> financing leaves them to their own devices in the hope that the material
that
> interests them will survive indefinitely without any management
whatsoever.
>
> I, and I think a few others on this list, am in the second category. Thus
the
> interest in permanent media and preservation of existing media in spite of
> the lack of sympathy from the professional audio side.
>
I second that emotion! Meanwhile, the owners of the copyrights of most
sound recordings fall firmly into group I, and are employing the classic
"dog in the manger" attitude toward sound recordings...e.g.
"We own it...you CAN'T reissue it...and we WON'T reissue it because
it doesn't promise enough profit!"

To make things worse, they are apparently trying to extend the US
concept of pseudo-eternal copyright to all known countries (if
not planets...)

Steven C. Barr