Yes, EXACTLY! Another argument for migrated storage of digital media as opposed to soon-to-be
obsolete objects like hard drives sitting on shelves.
Richard Hess and I were talking about this off-list and he reminded me of a key point I forgot to
make -- keep the Kodachromes. These are incredibly rich and compact media. If the slide is
well-preserved and has been stored in a closed box under proper conditions, it's doubtful most color
scanners today can even capture the color depth and subtle variations. There may well be a better
scanning technology later on (although modern slide scanners are pretty amazing and can certainly
scan more than all but the best printers can print).
I hope the slide discussion isn't too far afield. I have done a few multi-media transfer projects
that involve visuals and audio content. I wonder if you folks in the archives world run into much of
that?
-- Tom Fine
----- Original Message -----
From: "RA Friedman" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Thursday, April 05, 2007 9:31 AM
Subject: Re: [ARSCLIST] Slides and inconvenient media (was spin it again)
> Then the inaccessible media becomes the proverbial "1000 pound Gorilla" (with due apologies to our
> sister species), that the children or grandchildren have to deal with. My parents took 1000s of
> slides that haven't been looked at in 40+ years, plus there are tons of orphaned negatives for
> which there are no prints.
>
> I won't be researching my family lineage in my retirement, I'll be scanning media.
>
> RA Friedman
> Historical Society of PA
> Rights and Repro.
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Association for Recorded Sound Discussion List on behalf of Tom Fine
> Sent: Thu 4/5/2007 6:59 AM
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Cc:
> Subject: [ARSCLIST] Slides and inconvenient media (was spin it again)
>
>
>
> This is an interesting statement. Slides might point out some of the pitfalls of preservation
> media.
> As I said, all those Kodachromes my parents and even a few from my grandparents (they weren't into
> photography as much) have been stored under good conditions in boxes and projector carousels all
> these years. The color is still vivid and almost 3D it's so sharp. Meanwhile, the albums of color
> prints have faded considerably, just sitting on the shelf. And most of the framed color pictures
> are
> severely faded. But, to this day, it's the albums my brothers and I -- or my brother's kids --
> will
> pick up and enjoy. Why? Who has time to dig out the slide projector and set up the screen and sit
> around and go thru carousel after carousel. Hence the desire to digitized everything and have it
> randomly-accessible on DVDR or CDR or hard drives or all three or some combo.
>
> The lesson regarding preservation media is that transferring something and then having it in a
> semi-
> or fully-inaccessible media is not a good goal, in my opinion. Part of any transfer project should
> be some sort of accessibility system. In the case of audio, that usually means a copy of
> everything
> on some sort of server, be the copy a direct high-resolution clone or in a compromised format like
> MP3. Same goes for video and for imagery. I've often wondered why the software makers don't see
> this
> and make a feature where you have a SAVE-AS option to simultaneously save full-rez and lower-rez
> copies. This would be great in any audio editing software, and Photoshop and video software. Would
> be one less thing for operator to remember to do.
>
> How an organization is going to make transferred material accessible should be mandatory part of
> any
> grant application. I think it would also help with another of my pet issues -- selectivity (ie
> transfer the best stuff on the most threatened media first and then prioritize down from there,
> check what other insitutions are doing so you don't work in a vaccuum and consider sharing similar
> material so as not to duplicate each others' efforts).
>
> -- Tom Fine
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Jack Palmer" <[log in to unmask]>
> To: <[log in to unmask]>
> Sent: Thursday, April 05, 2007 1:19 AM
> Subject: Re: [ARSCLIST] Anyone familiar with "Spin It Again" Software to convert Lps a...
>
>
> > Good luck Tom,
> > I've been retired 20 years and haven't touched my slides yet. Not enough time. Jack
> >
> > ----- Original Message -----
> > From: "Tom Fine" <[log in to unmask]>
> > To: <[log in to unmask]>
> > Sent: Wednesday, April 04, 2007 6:40 AM
> > Subject: Re: [ARSCLIST] Anyone familiar with "Spin It Again" Software to convert Lps a...
> >
> >
> >> Hi Steve:
> >>
> >> Most if not all standalone recorders let you set a "make-a-new-track here" threshold. It's not
> >> perfect but it's another solution. In Soundforge, all you do is put mark (the M key) between
> >> tracks then "convert marker to regions" and "save each region as a separate file". Only takes
> >> as
> >> long as to scroll thru the waveform and make the marks and then how long the computer grinds.
> >>
> >> As for slides, you are very right that there is expensive outsourcing or time-consuming DIY but
> >> nothing in between. My parents took thousands of Kodachrome slides and they all are still vivid
> >> color but I have not had the time to tackle that job yet. That will be one of MY retirement
> >> projects.
> >>
> >> -- Tom Fine
> >>
> >> ----- Original Message -----
> >> From: "Steve Ramm" <[log in to unmask]>
> >> To: <[log in to unmask]>
> >> Sent: Tuesday, April 03, 2007 10:29 PM
> >> Subject: Re: [ARSCLIST] Anyone familiar with "Spin It Again" Software to convert Lps a...
> >>
> >>
> >>> Thanks guys! Somehow I thought I;d get answers like that knowing this a
> >>> highly "technical" group. I know I didn't want to transfer my Lps using one of
> >>> those cheap combo jobs.
> >>>
> >>> Actually at this point in my life - 62 - I'm spending so much time listening
> >>> to new releases of old material (for my monthly column in In The Groove)
> >>> that I'm not about to build up a big library. Basically I want music on the go.
> >>> And, I don't want to be a "sound archive" as my materials isn't THAT rare!
> >>> Look, doesn't everyone have hours of old radio comedy shows? And after those of
> >>> us over 50 (60?) go no one will want them anyway.
> >>>
> >>> My problem with cassettes and reels is that I don't have time to figure out
> >>> where in the tape there is a song I want to hear. Looking at the demo on Spin
> >>> It Again, I fugured I could set up a portable tape player next to my PC, run
> >>> the tape through the software to the PC and it would pretty much separate the
> >>> tracks between silence. Then I could index it and burn to CDs if I want. My
> >>> PC probably has a decent sound card. Heck, I'm happy with the radio shows I
> >>> record with Total Recorder - which at less than $20.00 is something I love and
> >>> it's easy for a dummy like me to use.
> >>>
> >>> Tom, you pointed out value of time. I agree and that's why I wanted
> >>> something that would work quickly and easily and I'm not planning on doing it for
> >>> anyone's ears but mine. I have mid range speakers on my stereo and my MP3
> >>> player. I'm into the content not whether the frequency is high or low. Spin it
> >>> again offers declickers in the software. It's low end I realize.
> >>>
> >>> I tried to use Audacity to cut up a long program once and got, not only
> >>> stumped, but it took time. It's way too technical for me. And my Dell PC cost
> >>> less than $500. without a monitor so I'm not looking to even put $75.00 more
> >>> into a sound card. I just thought this might serve my purpose.
> >>>
> >>> If you guys want, maybe someone can go to their site and look at demo and
> >>> give me thoughts on the downside of using it ASSUMING you want dubbing for
> >>> dummies of mostly speech, voices and some live concert recordings - that will
> >>> eventually be discarded.. and not spend over $50.
> >>>
> >>> Though it's somewhat different, I've been reading a lot of articles lately
> >>> to transfer slides (Photo slides) to digital. I was one of those who only took
> >>> slides cause they were cheaper than prints. I have thousands. Well, the
> >>> consensus of all is that there is NO INEXPENSIVE way to do it. If you have done
> >>> by services it comes to about 50 cents per slide scanned. If you do it yourself
> >>> it will take at least 3 minutes per slide to scan and save PLUS the cost of
> >>> a $100. scanner. Multiply this by time value and a few thousand slides and
> >>> you can see it won't work. I have no heirs who will care anyway. But these
> >>> technological changes have really moved fast in our lifetime.
> >>>
> >>> So thanks for the replies. I won't do anything right away but I might use
> >>> their free trial (which lets you record indefinitely but only burn three CDs or
> >>> or save 3 digital files.
> >>>
> >>> Steve
> >>>
> >>>
> >>>
> >>>
> >>>
> >>> ************************************** See what's free at http://www.aol.com.
> >>>
> >>
> >>
> >
>
>
>
>
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