[ARSCLIST] Memorex CDs and more!

[Karl Miller <lyaa071@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

On Fri, 13 Jan 2006, Tom Fine wrote:

> There will be a very long sunset. I would say, if 5" optical discs cannot
  be used in 100 years, another digital format will have come along and be
  as ubiquitous and there was a decades-long transition period where anything
  of value was moved to the new format.

Changing the subject...a bit.

I wonder about this. Certainly once information is in digital form,
its migration to other media is substantially easier that moving most
analog information into the digital domain. However, such a very small
percentage of analog recordings, both commercial and unique, have been
digitized. I remember reading somewhere that there is an estimated
60Million person hours needed to digitized all of the analog recordings in
the collections of institutions...from radio archives to libraries, etc.

It also seems reasonable to assume that the migration of digital
recordings to new media (and I would suggest file formats---can we count
on WAV being with us 100 years from now) will be an automated process.

Yet, looking past my lifetime, I do wonder about the notion of the
exponential growth of information versus the theoretical limits of
information storage...ah, but in the words of Scarlett..."I can't think
about that right now for tomorrow is another day."

For me, the really tough question is articulated by Tom with the words
"anything of value."

In my own experience I see money being spent on digitizing
some sociology professor's recorded audio of couples having discussions
about their disagreements, while I see unique recordings of performances
by major orchestras rotting away.

While in my mind, it would be easy to decide to trash those conversations
and get to the music...I realize my perspective is subjective.

Which, brings me back to my concern over a "universal" database for audio
recordings. We have so much to do, so little time and resources. If we
don't know what has been preserved, we might very well be duplicating
effort.

I guess I just don't see that we can afford not to devote money to
infrastructure that will coordinate the activities of institutions. And
further, I sincerely believe such a shared "universal" database would be
of great help to researchers and stimulate interest to support the huge
problems we are trying to address with resources that won't even make a
dent in the backlog. A database which requires trained professionals for
data entry just isn't going to solve the problem.

Add to that the copyrights and how they inhibit archives. Then I consider how
the copyrights inhibit the private sector from participating in the
process of digitization.

For me, it is also strange when I consider that these days libraries and
archives are not interested in collecting much as they frequently mention
that they have no space, or resources to devote to audio collections.
Couple that with the notion that the availability, in these last 50 years,
of low cost recording equipment, probably has us with a substantial amount
of unique material (some perhaps worth saving) in private hands. That
would seem to translate into the notion that we are likely to see a
substantial increase in the number of significant unique items needing
preservation.

While we have guidelines in our own community, I wonder if not a "Bible"
for audio preservation/restoration is needed. The published "Guidelines"
may just be too general? Do we need a volume which can be shared
within our own community and in the private sector. Guess we need a grant
to commission someone to compile all of this information? and, God help
us, a committee to argue it all out...

Karl (just feeling a bit overwhelmed)