--- Original Message ---
Date sent: Tue, 31 Aug 1999 10:07:07 +0200 (MET DST)
From: Omer Nezih GEREK <gerek@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
> On Mon, 30 Aug 1999, Tom Trottier wrote:
>
> > From: Omer Nezih GEREK <gerek@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
> >
> > > Scan your films. Scan them as soon as you can. At the highest resolution
> >
> > Yeah, but do you store it on 1/2" tape? CD? 5 1/4" floppy? The digital
> > formats may be dying faster than the dyes... We can still see photos
> > made 150+ years ago, but there aren't many 2" TV tape machines left to
> > play the oldest videotapes. BTW, magnetic storage is very fragile,
> > deteriorating over several years. CD-ROM is supposed to be the best so
> > far.
>
> CDROM seems to be the cheapest medium now. I believe recordable DVDs will
> become very affordable very soon.
>
> And, digital formats don't die. Only the medium dies. Even with the
> magnetic media, there is the concept of routine backup. You just have to
> switch to another storage device before yours dies. For example, if you burn
> two CDs, use one of them, and if that one dies in, say, 30 years, you
> copy your old backup to a new CD, or whatever available and probably
> superior media you have, and start using the old one, etc. The binary
> numbers are there. You cannot scratch, color fade, or spoil a "01100101".
Yes, but...
The thing is, now that you've accumulated 200...1000...20,000 CDs or
other storage devices/media, while it's still supported, and the new
devices/media are too (by the same OS & CPU), you now have to copy all
of them to the current storage device, having bought the necessary
media...
Now the $xx,000 that you spent on the old media is all wasted & you had
to fork over more bucks for the new media, but heh, it's cheaper now
anyways, per bit...
But can the *format* be read by the current programs? TIF, JPG, BMP -
how long will they last? Oh, now you have to import it to a program
that can translate formats, understanding both the old and the new,
then save it. Lossless, let's hope. Or perhaps the image is enhanced in
different, incompatible ways. Or maybe we edited it, to "improve" it.
Oh, do we still have "bits" (binary digits) or have we switched to
"trits" or other multvalued storage...
How many times will we have to do this in our lifetime (or our heirs,
if they care...) 78 rpm -> reel to reel -> cassette -> mini-disk ->
....?
I prefer the tintype. It's immediately accessible. Hard to fit in an
OM, tho....
Tom
------------------
From:Tom Trottier, ACT Productions Inc.
__o tom@xxxxxx http://www.act.ca
_ \< +1 613 594-4829 fax +1 613 594-8944
(*)/'(*) 199 Holmwood Ave, Ottawa, Ontario Canada K1S 2P3
"Make it as simple as possible, but no simpler" - Einstein
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