Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!rpi!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!pacific.mps.ohio-state.edu!linac!att!att!fang!tarpit!bilver!bill From: bill@bilver.uucp (Bill Vermillion) Newsgroups: comp.misc Subject: Re: What medium will be readable in 25 years? Message-ID: <1991May8.145225.21599@bilver.uucp> Date: 8 May 91 14:52:25 GMT References: <7DF+PQ+@cs.widener.edu> <1991May06.003407.25573@mthvax.cs.miami.edu> Distribution: na Organization: W. J. Vermillion - Winter Park, FL Lines: 54 In article afoiani@nmsu.edu (Anthony "Tkil" Foiani) writes: >Hmm... When I read the original post, I interpreted it to mean > "For what media will facilities be commonly available to read it 25 > years from now" >instead of > "What media will keep data non-corrupted over the time span of 25 > years?" >The second has been hashed over already, and I thought I'd comment on >the first. ..... >Vinyl > There will probably be some die-hard audiophiles who have turn- > tables, but not many. Vinyl holds up well with age, but so do CDs > pressed since the mid-80s, and the sound quality... Well whether it is vinyl or some other medium an egnraved/embossed/stamped disk medium holds up better than anything that has been shown so far. I have recordings that are now almost 90 years old - and they sound about the same today as they did at the turn of the century, when played on that equipment, or better when played on newer equipment. And the upside is - in regards to media facilities to read data in the future - any of the analog type recordings can be reproduced on something any machine shop could easily build. But I suspect that building something to read/decode whatever was written magnetically or optically will not be nearly as easy, particularly if the encoding method/algorithm is not known to those who are trying to read it. The analog medium in a physical format is often intuitively easy to decode. You can take a phonograph record, spin it, and place a paper cone with a pin through the end on the disk, and hear the sound. And anyone can look at a photographic negative and guess what is supposed to look like. On a magnetic or laser read optical medium in the form of CDs or LDs, you don't even know what you are trying to retreive. Is it visual, aural, or just a computer data stream? You can't really look at the storage medium without looking toward the availability of methods of retrieval. -- Bill Vermillion - UUCP: uunet!tarpit!bilver!bill : bill@bilver.UUCP