Date:         Mon, 3 Oct 2005 21:26:44 -0400
Reply-To:     Association for Recorded Sound Discussion List
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Sender:       Association for Recorded Sound Discussion List
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From:         Tom Fine <[log in to unmask]>
Subject:      Re: Requiem for the DAT (redux, was Storage of audio CDs)
Comments: To: Association for Recorded Sound Discussion List <[log in to unmask]>
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Hi Richard:

Regarding DVD media, I'm with you 100%. I haven't seen the kind of rigorous
tests yet for DVDs that were done for CD media. I'd really love to see an
update of that test NASA did a few years ago where they listed specific CDR
brands in their test results. The later NIST data doesn't list particular
brands, as I recall. I don't believe NIST or NASA have done this kind of
life-torture tests on DVD media.

There's also the all-eggs-one-basket fear with DVD media. 4.7 gigs is a lot
of audio. Even if you made a few copies, if the media is prone to degenerate
over time, what good was that? I'd worry even more about the dual-layer DVD
media, just based on historical experience with multi-layer plastic
products.

I would bet that for every one DAT mechanism ever manufactured (and I'd
guess maybe 50% of all ever made, or more, are no longer in good working
order), there have been 20+ laser-bearing drives made that can read most or
all formats of 5" plastic discs. And for every DAT tape ever spooled, maybe
50+ blank CDR's have rolled out of Asian factories. That's a good harbinger
for the long-term viability of the CDR format. This is an example where
industry standardization on a method and form factor is a very Good Thing.
I'm hoping very much that DVD+/-R is a continuation of the Good Thing but
it's pretty early to pass judgement.

-- Tom Fine

----- Original Message ----- 

<snip>

From RIchard Hess:

> I am very concerned about this.
>
> There is an archive that has more Mitsubishi X-86 tapes than
> remaining head life, as I understand it. While that situation will be
> easier to sort out with musicians dumping DAT machines on eBay (they
> are much more common than X-86 machines) I must urge people as I did
> a month and a half ago that it would be good practice to transfer all
> their DAT holdings (which many of us recommended against as an
> archival format from the beginning) to a more stable medium. Gold
> CD-Rs for the short term, or managed, perpetual storage for the long term.
>
> Many of us in the tape restoration business are set up for digital
> DAT transfer as Tom Fine pointed out. One of the challenges is
> deciding what to do with 48 ks/s DATs. Do you save them as files or
> downsample to 44.1 ks/s for audio CDs. I guess the answer is
> partially, "it depends." Here's where a file system makes things
> easier. Perhaps the answer is "both."
>
> I may be a Luddite, but I'm still a wee bit nervous about DVDs for
> long-term archival storage (as files, of course).
>
> Cheers?
>
> Richard
>
>
> Richard L. Hess                           email: [log in to unmask]
> Vignettes
> Media                           web:   http://www.richardhess.com/tape/
> Aurora, Ontario, Canada             (905) 713 6733     1-877-TAPE-FIX
> Detailed contact information: http://www.richardhess.com/tape/contact.htm