I think it's important to understand that many small institutions --
such as county historical societies in my neck of the woods -- have
oral history holdings on tape, significant to the locale. Archivists
at these institutions are routinely told their AV resources are at
risk and must be digitally transferred at the first opportunity. What
does this opportunity look like for a budget-strapped institution, and
what is the risk of waiting versus using a capable, if rudimentary,
software? Better to let a patron hear a tape, or better to go ahead
and backup digitally and render a user copy, even given the
constraints? That's a real question for many folks. If they can get
together a volunteer (many of these archivists are virtually
volunteers themselves), a working playback deck, a PC, and a decent
audio interface, Audacity is their friend when they want to save a
tape and have to count, literally, every penny. I've recommended it
before, and would again, as a reasonable option for generating a WAV
where budgets are tight or nonexistent.
Craig