Re: [ARSCLIST] Memorex CDs and more!

[Jerry Hartke <jhartke@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Association for Recorded Sound Discussion List
> [mailto:ARSCLIST@xxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Mwcpc6@xxxxxxx
> Sent: Friday, January 13, 2006 11:15 AM
> To: ARSCLIST@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
> Subject: Re: [ARSCLIST] Memorex CDs and more!
> 
> In a message dated 1/13/2006 10:08:07 AM Eastern Standard Time,
> lyaa071@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx writes:
> 
> 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.
> *************
> 
> It is very tempting to me to start digitizing everything I have and
> dumping
> it into the Internet Archive, posting it on a Newsgroup, or placing it on
> a
> transient web page on AOL or Roadrunner just in the hope that it will end
> up
> somewhere that will last for a generation or so.
> 
> However the rights issue is a real deterrent to this. If I were totally
> without financial resources, this might not matter. But I have to finance
> retirement.
> 
> This is why a "permanent" hard medium is so desirable. It would allow the
> digital files to be passed on to a time beyond copyright or at least
> beyond the
> time when I could care.
> 
> Mike Csontos

An old saying "Eternal Vigilance Is the Price of Safety" is appropriate.
There is no "permanent" storage. File and forget does not work, although it
would be nice. Knowledgeable archivists verify initial quality, periodically
sample test the archive to detect any deterioration, copy the material if
degradation is detected, any port to newer technologies every 10-20 years.

Time and dollar budgets must include the above activities. We all benefit
from low cost, high volume consumer products that we divert for long-term
storage, but cannot assume that they are always suitable for that purpose.

Jerry Hartke
Media Sciences, Inc.