Re: [ARSCLIST] CD-R question

[Jerry Hartke <jhartke@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

I disposed of my last 8" floppy drive, and doubt that I could purchase one.
And that technology is not 50 years old. Many professionals accept the need
to port information to current media every 20 years.

Jerry
Media Sciences, Inc.

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Association for Recorded Sound Discussion List
> [mailto:ARSCLIST@xxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Howard Friedman
> Sent: Saturday, January 05, 2008 11:43 PM
> To: ARSCLIST@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
> Subject: Re: [ARSCLIST] CD-R question
> 
> Several of you wrote,
> 
> Richard (and more so to Mr. Friedman),
> 
> Do we have any concrete expectations that CD drives will be available
> in 50 years? Please point me to the information that guarantees that,
> I would be happy to be reassured that CD drives will be available
> then. I tend to be much more pessimistic about hardware/ software
> availability given the 50-year target mentioned.
> 
> I think the context of Howard's question - "all other things being
> equal" is a gamble at best.
> 
> > So, I do think that it is not as safe to leave a non-mainstream CD
> > around in an archive.
> 
> I agree with your statement wholeheartedly.
> 
> Best,
> John
> 
> John Spencer
> BMS/ Chace LLC
> 1801 8th Ave. S.  Suite 200
> Nashville, TN 37203
> office (615) 385-1251
> fax (615) 385-0153
> cell (615) 714-1199
> email: jspencer@xxxxxxxxxxxx
> web: www.bmschace.com
> 
> 
> 
> On Jan 5, 2008, at 3:52 PM, Richard L. Hess wrote:
> 
> > At 04:21 PM 2008-01-05, Howard Friedman wrote:
> >> And are you saying that a 534 minute CD will not survive as long
> >> as an 80 minute CD, all other things being equal?
> >
> > That is an interesting question. I would suspect that the
> > likelihood of the 80-minute CD being useable is higher than the 534
> > minute CD because in 50 years someone will try and play both in a
> > CD player and when one plays and the other one doesn't they may
> > assume that the one that doesn't play is no good and dispose of it.
> >
> > I realize that putting it into a PC drive and reading it would
> > quickly educate the user, but I fear the least-common denominator
> > when it comes to technical savvy in at least some archives. Many
> > archivists try very hard to keep up with the technology, but
> > archivist salaries are, sadly, rather small in many places and
> > their workload is heavy.
> >
> > When tapes started to squeal, many got dumpstered as "unplayable"
> > with no recovery attempt made.
> >
> > So, I do think that it is not as safe to leave a non-mainstream CD
> > around in an archive.
> >
> > As to the survival of the two from a photo-chemical perspective, I
> > think that Jerry has provided information about what that depends
> > on. Disc type, storage conditions, and quality fo writer are all key.
> >
> > The other thing to worry about with the compressed audio CD-ROM is
> > that you will need to have the proper codec to extract the
> > compressed files. With WAV files, while you need a codec, it is the
> > simplest variety. MP3 will be decodable, I suspect, longer than
> > many other formats.
> >
> > Cheers,
> >
> > Richard
> >
> > 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.
> 
> But it is difficult to follow the individual threads when you append one
> to another.  As for Cd drives in 50 years, I have a Pathé cylinder player
> (1900?), three multi-speed turntables (60-90 rpm, Garrard 401 [1975],
> Thorens Mk 124 [1985], Esoteric CVS 14, [2000]), and two CD/DVD players,
> the latter in my computer.  Which one will last the longest is anyone's
> guess.  But they are all operable now.
> 
> Howard