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You can back up digital files to archival optical media -

http://www.mam-a.com/

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Walt

Archival optical media is a good way to store files but still has the problem with deterioration with age. They last longer than plain media but there is still no substitute for rewriting to new media occasionally and having multiple copies. Even archival media can be damaged or lost in a fire.

If the Library of Congress is using tape to archive the cylinders in an analog fashion, that tape will still be subject to deterioration but far less so in the climate conditions they use. With analog tape, every time you make a copy there is some degradation of the signal. However, IMO they should also transfer them to digital with a maintenance program to rewrite on a regular basis to media such as hard drives. The drives do not have to be replaced, only refreshed. Using RAID arrays will provide extra security against drive failures that do happen. There are also a lot of applications that monitor the health of hard drives and provide warning when device performance is starting to suffer, generally leading to a crash at some point

Tom

Please look at the link to the site that sells archival optical media. The media is good for 200 years.

Alkaline paper is good for 350+ years! Maybe piano rolls are the best

For me the big advantage of digital storage is the tagging. It becomes easier to find and play music I forgot I had.

My collection is under half a terabyte. I suspect within a year or two, I will be able to buy an SD card or USB stick that will hold it all for about $20 to $30.

I have two extra 1 tb drives for backup and an older drive with a copy that I gave to a friend in the UK. It made me wonder if it was legal to do this. My prime objective was backup. I did not care whether he used it or not and I suspect he hasn't.

ray

I did but s..t happens. And when it does like a defective product, fire, theft, or the hungry dog here is what you have left if you only rely on one copy in one place.

...Or Russian hackers, who wipe out all recorded history of the Western World....except for Trump's speeches.

Everybody knows dealing with vinyl is a hassle. Some of us feel its worth the trouble. Others will just push a button. I feel dealing with the hassles means you are making a commitment to the music and its appreciated more.
Yesterday I heard one of the most musical systems I have ever heard. It was a mega system, which usually I find underwhelming based on what I have heard at Axpona or RMAF, which some systems bested $1million.
There has only been about 6 systems I have ever heard that came close to what I heard yesterday. Walt's is one of them, but his system represents years of man hours tweaking that I would not try to guess to put a dollar value to, probably worth more that what I experienced yesterday in Philly

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Walt