In article , Johny B Good
wrote:

I've digitised a portion of my reel to reel tapes and vynil to wav
files which I _have_ retained. The 192Kbps stereo MP3s which I carefully
crafted for 'easy listening' purposes are almost indistinguishable in
quality from the original wavs.

I've got into the habit of now digitising LPs/tapes at 96k/24 and keeping
this as flac. Given what you say about the size of modern storage and the
way bigger amounts will become available this now seems fine. Saves any
faffing about doing any processing down to 'lower' formats that save space.

I do, though, convert the recordings to mono if the LP is mono. Not so much
to save space as to reduce the background rumble and distortion levels. The
change in rumble is quite noticable on headphones for some discs as the
level varies from disc to disc.


I f you want to add an extra level of robustness against 'bit rot' in
the storage media, an effective way is simply to duplicate or even
triplicate the archive files

Yes. I make copies to three different HDs, kept in different rooms, one not
normally connected to anything.

With modern digital storage, we'd be pushing our luck with 5 year
maintence intervals. The only saving grace being the ease with which
exact duplicates can be created on replacement and novel media. Optical
disk storage lost its 'Novelty Factor' decades ago hence my regard of
CDs and the like as being positively 'pre-historic'.

I still like having a CD (or LP) from the point of view of having a
physical artifact I can file, examine, read the cover-notes, etc. But in
practice well made digital versions are easier to play and organise. And
being able to store items 'out of sight' does reduce the level of clutter.

Alas for having a tidy home, I've started to buy LPs again! A nearby
2nd-hand LP shop has opened. I'm not a fan of their 'pop/rock' because - as
you could predict - the pop/rock LPs I've tried tend to be badly worn,
scratched, etc. However they have boxes of old Jazz LPs at low prices. Many
of these seem near mint condition for the ones for pre-bop/modern items.
Double 'RCA Jazz Tribune' sets for 3 quid! :-)

Seems to show that most pop/rock LPs got thrashed. But that many Jazz fans
took far more care of their LPs. That said, some of the LPs have things
like "London Weekend Television" library stamps on them. So might have only
been played once or twice. 8-] Although heaven knows how long ago LWT would
have disposed of its LP library!

Jim

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