Alasdair Mackintosh wrote:
>
> Digital information has the potential to last forever.
Yes, the _potential_. But we're talking less than ideal reality. My house is
not a Government-funded National museum - I cannot afford the best digital
storage techniques. I will trust film before I do the fast-changing world of
digital storage. Remember the then-new Compact Disc's claims of "perfect
sound"? Ha. The proponents of new technologies have $$$ in their eyes, but
may not want to know you in a few years time - just look at the high rate of
obsolescence in computer hardware. While I would not play King Canute to the
digital tide, I still think one cannot assume that digital storage is the
answer.
>By contrast, a zero and a one can be copied perfectly.
Only if they can be read in the first place. I don't care if ones and zeros
are so stable, it is the _media_ that cause the problems. No technology is
required to view a slide (a thing of beauty in itself), and the volume of
old-fashioned film images around means that facilities for printing/scanning
etc are not going to disappear. Even a faded colour print would be better
than a corrupted jpeg file, or an unreadable CD or hard drive. Is a computer
monitor even remotely comparable to a slide show or a framed 12x16" print?
Not in my book. Pass the chromes, dear fellow, I feel a bout of posterity
coming on... ;-)
Simon E.
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