Back eons ago when I first started using digital hardware/software to edit motion pictures, the MO was considered to be a less expensive storage option (with its drive) than hard drives. It's hard to believe that a 450 MB hard drive would have about cost $1000 then. But, the technology for MOs wasn't perfected then (they became corrupted) as I lost some audio/video files in trusting them. I would guess that has changed, today. Rod Stephens Family Theater Productions Richard L. Hess wrote: > Lou, > > You raise good points about the M-O structure of MDs. I hope I was > careful to address the player issue in my original post. Your friend > may be correct, but I believe most life-time analysis has been done on > industrial M-Os not MDs. I'm sure not trusting my stuff to MD. I > consider it a capture medium, not an archival medium. > > There have been both manufacturer and independent testing about the > longevity of the Phthalocyanine dye used in the MAM-A discs. It is > claimed that this is a Mitsui patent. > > I suspect that the writing drive is an issue for both MDs and CDs. > Jerry can chime in with more details here. > > I'm using managed disc drives for much of my current storage and I am > a fan of managed storage in the data domain. I am not a fan of > dedicated formats in general for archiving. I make an exception for > gold audio CD-Rs as they are readable in computers as well as audio > players. > > Cheers, > > Richard > > At 06:11 PM 10/13/2005, you wrote: > >> Richard, I can't speak to the future players, but a radio friend of >> mine thinks that MDs are MORE archival as they have magneto-optical >> recording and may last longer than the only-chemical CDs. He took the >> time and trouble to transfer 20 years of weekly programs to MD for >> the permanent archive on this theory. >> >> Do you think he might be wrong? Discounting the availability of >> players, for the sake of discussion. You are probably right about >> that the way things are going with the players though nothing is >> gospel any more. >> >> Thanks for your opinion! >> >> Lou Judson . Intuitive Audio >> 415-883-2689 >> >> On Oct 13, 2005, at 1:59 PM, Richard L. Hess wrote: >> >>> Digitally transfer them to two CD-Rs and store the CD-Rs. Or better >>> yet, if you have a managed digital archive that can accept them, >>> store them in that. >>> >>> I don't think many of us think that MDs are archival. I wouldn't >>> worry about an archival box for a medium that probably isn't >>> archival. I don't think we can expect the long-term availability of >>> MD players as compared to CD players. >>> >>> Good luck! >>> >>> Richard >> > > Richard L. Hess [log in to unmask] > Aurora, Ontario, Canada http://www.richardhess.com/ > Detailed contact information: > http://www.richardhess.com/tape/contact.htm