Re: [ARSCLIST] Preservation media WAS: Cataloguing still :-)

[steven c <stevenc@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Richard L. Hess" <arclists@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
> At 10:13 AM 9/2/2006, Mike Csontos Mwcpc6@xxxxxxx wrote:
> >To me, the long term archiving by digitization of books is just as
> >questionable as it is for images and audio.
> Mike,
>
> What would you propose as the alternative?
> I think you'll agree that regular cloning of analog tapes will degrade
quality.
>
> I would like to suggest that the effective life of an analog tape is,
> with luck, on average 50 years, although it seems the _design_ life
> (of at least some brands) might have been less.
>
> Digital is the best shot we have to capture recordings before they
> deteriorate (further) and then be able to rejuvenate them over time
> to keep them safe.
>
> I don't see shellac, vinyl, nor analog tape being a viable method of
> maintaining the high quality of original recordings made from c. 1954
> until the present.
>
Actually, I have a handful of Philips cassettes which are approaching
forty years of age, and still play (well, as well as they ever did)...
do I expect these to suddenly burst into flame, explode, dissolve
or otherwise go see Jesus around the fall of 2018?

As well, I have shellac discs which are now over a century old...and
don't appear to have suffered ill effects from age (wish I could say
the same thing about myself!).

So it looks like our best approach may be to recreate (possibly in
an improved form, by using a much more finely-ground "filler" in
the mix?) shellac-moulding technology...?!

Steven C. Barr