Explore the archive
Of all the work I do, I think dealing with older formats, and just figuring out how they work, is the most interesting aspect. A few weeks ago, a stack of old open real tapes arrived, along with a similar-vintage tape player. The recordings were done in the early 1950s, as part of a project […]
One of the topics I like to bring up in the discussion of preserving digital data is the idea of a Digital Dark Age… the notion of a period in our historic knowledge that ends up getting lost due to a failure to plan and preserve our early digital content. The New Scientist, however, recently […]
Even as technology marches on, there is a slowly growing enthusiasm for looking back on the history of computing, and preserving those still-working specimens of obsolete systems and vintage hardware and software that exist. The movement is known as retrocomputing, and although it’s mostly done as a hobby, I would argue that the people who collect and […]
Today, Kodak announced the final production run of Kodachrome film, after a 74-year run. Kodachrome is yet another casualty of the long march towards digital formats, as fewer and fewer sales of Kodachrome film have meant continuing to mass produce it is no longer viable. “KODACHROME Film is an iconic product and a testament to […]
An interesting post and ensuing discussion this weekend occurred on the Association of Moving Image Archivists listserv. Jim Wheeler reports on what could be an ominous sign for Quadruplex and 1-inch Video tape archives around the world. Video Magnetics, Inc., one of the last vendors that services the Quad and 1-inch tape machines, appears to be hitting […]