A tedious-sounding title, eh what? But its ramifications affect us all. Even YOU – so listen up!
This historian was born in 1952 and during the previous four years, two recording media had been introduced which would change the entertainment business for the next half-century (most of this writer’s life) but which thanks to post-war poverty, had done little thus far.
Most people’s record collections consisted solely of 78s – big plastic discs that played for three minutes a side. The only difference was whether they were ten or twelve-inch. The twelve-inch discs gave you another minute a side, but were reserved mostly for classical music – so there was little conflict.
But conflict arose in 1948, when vinyl albums emerged – and singles, the following year.
If a singles collector with five hundred met an album collector with one hundred, the fur would fly. Singles had better dynamics and top tracks, while albums cost more – and the tracks were COMPLETE – and they lasted longer – but they contained “filler” – although they might be stereo – etc., etc. So who had the biggest one?
However, this is about the MEDIA, so let us move on.
The thing is, ALL records, from shellac to vinyl were ANALOGUE. Thus, with care paid to record storage and playing styli, cartridges, tone-arms and so on – they lasted for EVER.
My oldest record was made in ninety-four. EIGHTEEN ninety-four. And it still plays.
But when audio-tape first appeared commercially, around 1950, it started a revolution. For the first time, people could RECORD music.
And when video-tape followed, around a decade later, audio-visual media had ARRIVED.
Of course, it took a couple of decades for either of these formats to become affordable for the plebs, but when it did, collection numbers became irrelevant. UMPTEEN titles could be recorded onto a single tape.
Then, in the early Eighties, the first optical disks began to surface. At this time, they could only be made by factories – but recordable versions arrived two decades later.
Which brings us to NOW. The iPhone and various other solid-state Portable Media Players have provided another quantum leap in the storage of music and image. This time, the media is stored in little flat boxes.
And THAT (finally) brings us to the nub of the problem…
My entire collection of 3,000 records (78s, 45s and albums) weighs in at around a quarter of a ton – but they could be stored on a handful of Blue-Ray disks that could be slipped into a pocket – or a device I could conceal in my hand.
However, the media would now be DIGITAL – while my ANALOGUE RECORDS have survived intact for up to A HUNDRED AND SEVENTEEN YEARS. And if cared for, they will last another THOUSAND.
But the thing is, NO-ONE can tell you how long your media will LAST in/on these NEW devices.
The problem began with the advent of recording tape. But it turned out that if you bought a superior brand of tape and kept it away from heat, humidity and strong magnetic fields – it actually lasted quite a while.
However, tape consists of a plastic strip, with an iron oxide sprayed onto it – and there is much to go wrong. In addition to the afore-mentioned heat, humidity and magnetic fields – if the manufacturer goofs up, the plastic can stretch, warp and part company with that all-important iron oxide.
Plus, a bad tape machine transport system can DECIMATE a tape, irreparably.
And all of the same applies to video-tape. Which is why most of the little that remains from the Sixties is on KINESCOPE. The boffins told the technicians tape would FADE. They were wrong – but the damage was done. The Sixties got WIPED.
Of course, when DIGITAL arrived, it meant media could be stored as ones and zeros – thus the analogue quality was unimportant and you could copy it without loss. But you still needed to STORE it somehow.
This author has had the devil of a job restoring pictures he took only thirty, forty years ago. They were taken on various films and processed in various labs and while some were still fine – others had gone RED.
However, most of my audio- and video-tapes are still good (despite some of the VTs being over thirty years old – and a few of the audio-cassettes, FORTY) – but will they survive as long as Miss Alice Raymonde’s New York recording of Sousa’s “Love Me Little, Love Me Long” has done? (Yes, it’s that 1894 record of mine). Probably not.
For decades, I recorded onto tape – then early in the last decade, I went over to disk. But how long will THOSE recordings last?
Then again, why CARE? After all, I’ll probably DIE in about twenty years – and who lives for 117 years anyway? Why not just leave archiving to the experts and enjoy the fruits of their labours?
And that is a fair point. Now that YouTube and iTunes are here, music has become largely transitory. If you want to hear something – just download it.
But the problem with that is archivists are less than perfect – and they do not archive EVERYTHING. Some of the ANALOGUE pieces I have uploaded to YouTube are WAY better quality than you will find on ANY website. And there is plenty you will not find at ALL.
Thus, collections still have value – but on modern media, how long will they LAST? A few days ago, the Western Black Rhino was declared extinct. How long before a HUNDRED YEARS of our musical heritage goes the same way?
In the final analysis, media falls into two categories: items that are important to us – and those that are important to the World.
Thus, when choosing a storage facility for your PERSONAL media, you only have to worry about its existence during the time YOU have left. But Elvis, The Beatles, Sinatra et al are IMMORTAL – they need SPECIAL consideration.
The electronics giants seek only to constantly bombard us with new gear. They care nothing for our heritage – just our MONEY. So if you want to preserve the creative output of the kings and queens of the Century Of Entertainment, you need to get SERIOUS.
Before it is TOO LATE.
