Re: [ARSCLIST] Clarifying the MAM-A gold comment

[Tom Fine <tflists@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Hi Richard:

So, that actually amounts to a good pile of media still being burned just in your studio each year. 
So, again, how is there not a large enough niche for a market?

As for Jerry's comments in a separate e-mail, all I can say is either most archives don't belong to 
or pay any attention to this list and/or there is rampant, rampant penny-wisdom/pound-foolishness.

Folks, of all the money in your grant or budget, to do an audio preservation project right, blank 
media really is a tiny expense, whether it's archival-grade or cheap Staples crap. And, the cost 
differential of archival grade media pales in comparison to the cost of re-doing lost work. This 
reminds me of friends in my youth who would sit for days making a really nice, personalized mix tape 
but record it on some X-brand cassette or something like TDK D or Maxell UL media. Or the band that 
brought in their Tascam 4-track session tapes done on antique duplicator grade tape. Media cost is 
never anything more than a tiny fraction of people-time cost.

-- Tom Fine

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Richard L. Hess" <arclists@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
To: <ARSCLIST@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Tuesday, December 12, 2006 8:38 PM
Subject: Re: [ARSCLIST] Clarifying the MAM-A gold comment


> I make a choice: 2-3 CDs and/or DVDs plus access copies OR a place in the file system and 1-2 CDs 
> for access. More things are staying in the file system these days. It's at 1250 GB triple redundant 
> and one 250G volume is personal and demo media -- and it's about full. DigiPix are a separate (not 
> full) 250G volume. Client hold stuff is a third, work in process is a 4th, and all the other stuff 
> is a fifth. I do not hold most client files more than 3 months after delivery.
>
> I have some projects that will necessitate expansion.
>
> For private and some institutional clients I do CDs. I'm also doing downloads for some of my 
> clients for smaller jobs and one DVD set to institutional clients when the job size is small 
> enough not to warrant a hard drive.
>
> I encourage clients to make backups and keep the gold media I send them pristine.
>
> Cheers,
>
> Richard
>
> At 06:40 PM 2006-12-12, Tom Fine wrote:
> > Hi Richard:
> >
> > You don't archive anything to "archival media" for safety anymore? I do. Don't most people? Maybe 
> > not?
> >
> > -- Tom Fine
> >
> > ----- Original Message ----- From: "Richard L. Hess" <arclists@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
> > Sent: Tuesday, December 12, 2006 10:39 AM
> >
> > > At 06:46 AM 2006-12-12, Tom Fine wrote:
> > > > I am actually somewhat surprised that there isn't a large enough medical and mil-spec market for 
> > > > high-quality data storage that a manufacturer would have enough critical mass right there. Tack 
> > > > on archvies/institutions and the music "business" (in quotes because it is quickly becoming the 
> > > > opposite of a business model if business model = profitable and long-term) and it seems there's 
> > > > room for a quality niche. Why not?
> > >
> > > Because...the only real niche for optical media are the archives too small for a managed digital 
> > > store. All of the large institutions are looking towards managed digital stores aka institutional 
> > > repositories.
> > >
> > > It's true. You and I keep things on spinning hard drives even now.
> >
> > Richard L. Hess                   email: richard@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
> > Aurora, Ontario, Canada       (905) 713 6733     1-877-TAPE-FIX
> > Detailed contact information: http://www.richardhess.com/tape/contact.htm
> > Quality tape transfers -- even from hard-to-play tapes.