Re: [ARSCLIST] Long-term/preservation audio

[Mike Richter <mrichter@xxxxxxx>]

At 10:03 AM 7/1/2003 -0400, James L Wolf wrote:

>    One thing I also said that I'm not as sure about now. I said
> something like analog preservation will no longer be possible in the
> near future. I based this on the steady attrition of suppliers of
> magnetic tape, assuming that demand would dry up to the point that tape
> would no longer be available at all. Does anyone disagree with this? I
> suppose that tape could be made to order by someone (?), but it would
> have to be much more expensive than it is now.

The classic method of making magnetic tape is suitable only for a
substantial market. I do not know the dimensions, but the sheet of base
material which is created, coated and slit is many reels wide. Unless there
is a different process available, the cost of the needed facility would be
prohibitive without steady volume. (I recall having seen a video of the
slitting operation; the sheet of "tape" was of the order of a meter wide.)

The salvation of open-reel tape may prove to be the cassette. In the
beginning, cassette tape required only that the sheet be slit in
eighth-inch widths instead of quarter-inch. I don't know whether the method
is different now, but it seems likely that archival tape will be feasible
as long as cassettes are being made.


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