Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2001/04/26
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]> > I think the problem with digital is not only can that the medium can degrade > over time, the devices used to decode it will change as they have for music. > That's going to cause problems for people who need to constantly convert > their photos as digital evolves. > > Think about the music industry... > > 45 speed records > 33 speed records > reel-to-reel tape > 8 track tape > cassette tape > CD > > Six different format changes for listening to music in about 30 years. > Think about what that means for digital photography. Constant conversion if > you want to look at your old pictures. It's the device change over that > scares me. > > -Mark agreed. "planned obsolescence" may be the mantra of the conspiracy-seekers, but having worked on the vendor side of technology (no longer, thank God), i know there's nothing manufacturers hate more than the old guys who don't want or need change. there's no more disparaging a pejorative than "legacy system." so vendors go to any effort (including the Y2K scare) to get people off the old systems, often losing data and other systems capital in the process. many institutions are legally required to keep data 2,3 maybe 7 years, but realistically getting that old data back is often dicey. BUT EVEN MORE OFF TOPIC, your message got me thinking about what i'd look into if i were a PhD candidate in comp sci (just a lowly MS now). i'd be interested in writing a project to scan in a 45 record on a flatbed (hopefully getting enough contrast) and via much image processing and analysis, by tracing the groove centers using knowledge that it's a counter-clocksize spiral, examining the modulation and eventually being able to recreate music based on that image. no idea if it's really feasible... maybe you need a scanning laser or something to really get a good picture of the grooves. but so many parts of the project are technically challenging (and furthermore, it's so impractical) that i think i'd deserve a PhD for it. note that i have absolutely no inclination nor plan to ever implement such a thing nor to go for a PhD at my advanced age. - -rei