Re: [ARSCLIST] National Recording Preservation Board (NRPB) Study

[Mike Richter <mrichter@xxxxxxx>]

Tom Fine wrote:
> Well, one question immediately comes to mind. Who CARES about 78's 
> issued after the advent of tape (1947-48), unless the tape master has 
> been lost? Even if only a good-condition LP exists (post-1948), it is 
> almost guaranteed to sound better and have a wider frequency/dynamic 
> range than the 78. So I ask again, who cares about what's gotta be the 
> vast majority of late-era 78's? I mean, they might make a nice novelty, 
> but they have little or no historical value since they're a 
> worst-case/obsolete-technology version of something.

I could not understand this post until I realized that it assumes that 
all 78s issued after 1947 or so were also published on LP. Not so in my 
experience. In addition, while a transfer to LP may "sound better" in 
some sense, if the original issue was on 78 and the content is of value 
at all, the 78 is the primary (available) source.

One may argue which source should be seen as primary when issues were 
concurrent in different formats (LP/45, LP/open-reel, ...).

Finally, in cases where original tapes, metal parts or other earlier 
sources are available, they may or may not be primary and may or may not 
be appropriate to archive in some fashion.

Mike
--
mrichter@xxxxxxx
http://www.mrichter.com/