SACD to the rescue?

[Oldwriter]

Report on NPR Wednesday morning that the Library of Congress is now transferring its audio tape collections to computer hard drives - digital.
They say the old tapes are deteriorating, and that means loss of some of our National Treasure - recorded music.
Perhaps the development of SACD will "save the day?" Certainly, for those of us who treasure classical music, the "old" recordings are often the best - and now that so many of them are being reissued in SACD (and, yes DVD-A to some extent) format - I look at this as having two positive reactions: first the new SACDs are sonically wonderful, and second, these transfers keep alive the sounds of such super-stars as George Szell and the Cleveland Symphony, Bernstein and NYP, etc. And yes, look what the industry did with Miles Davis' "Kind of Blue" and Dave Brubeck's "Take Five" - absolutely mind-blowing!
I'm starting to collect SACDs - and hope that enough folk agree with me so that the format allows many more "save the analog tape" transfers. Any thoughts? Larry R.

[therockman]

According to what I have read regarding the Library Of Congress preserving their recorded archives to digital hard drive, the whole project is being done in DSD, which I guess gives the SACD format a nod of approval for archival storage.


Rocky Bennett

[Oldwriter]

Thanks for the info - do you have any idea how I might get more info on that? Probably be something on LOC web site? Yes, from my limited knowledge of electronics, I THINK that the DSD will turn out to be the better - and dominant - format? Who knows? But I wish only that more people would go out and buy SACDs! (and I wish I could afford a player Right Now!) GRIN
Good posting - thanks - Larry R.

[therockman]

Larry, One day I was playing around on google.com and I was entering a lot of different combinations of words, like "super audio compact disc history" or something like that and I came across a link that indicated that Sony was working with the LOC to develop an archival digital storage format, and that format was DSD. I will try to find that site again.


Rocky Bennett

[Oldwriter]

That would be great! Yes, if you "noodle" on Google you can come up with many fascinating things! Thanks - I hope you find the or "a" site - and I'll try to do the same. The LOC folks have a nearly-impossible task ahead of them, fer shore! Larry R

[therockman]

As far as I am concerned, the preservation of cultural heritage is of utmost importance, and you are right, the LOC has a monumental task ahead of them.

Rocky

[Danny Tse]

Any one read this article (http://www.archives.gov/preservation/conferences/papers_2003/fleischauer.html)?

[Oldwriter]

. . .in the end - will the Library of Congress embrace the DSD technology? Stay tuned - hopefully some of you will find an answer, if one exists?
Thanks, Danny, for opening my eyes to a LOT of things which I'd not really considered before. Looking forward. . . larry R.

[Oldwriter]

Also - (after reading Danny's article) - consider this?

http://palimpsest.stanford.edu/byform/mailing-lists/arsclist/2003/10/msg00089.html

Don't know how it will all wash out - but from the sidelines, I'm betting that Sony will pull a lot of strings to put SACD anywhere it can - even losing money - to make a "hit" out of its latest "betamax" format! Does SACD rule? Stay tuned. LR

[therockman]

Funny, I had never considered the physical aspect of recorded sound; the album jackets, the hanwritten lyrics, the artwork, etc. Considering this aspect of the historical preservation of our cultural heritage, it seems DVD is the way to go.

Rocky

[Oldwriter]

Yo - Rockman - spent a good portion of last night Online - and went into the Library of Congress - American Memories division, which seems to be very large. In that, I posted questions about media used in preserving such things as the immense Alan Lomax collection of tapes and records - folk songs and the like - going back to the early 50s. E-mailed my questions, and they say they'll respond within 5 days. Should be interesting to get an update "from the horse's mouth" on whether they're going with the DSD technology.
Heck, I'm so fascinated I'm going to spend more time on the Library of Congress site today! Thanks for the tip. Larry R.

[therockman]

Larry, Thanks for the update. Please respond back on this thread with your findings when The Library does respond.

Rocky B.

[Oldwriter]

They say it may take up to five days for a reply - then, of course, I'm not sure what I'll get! Ought-ah be interesting, anyway!
Over and, uh, "out." Larry R.

[Oldwriter]

Yo - Rocky et al. Just got a nice, if short, reply from Karen Fishman at the Library of Congress - reporting that they do not now use DSD technology - rather "WAV/PCM technology sampled at 96kHz, 24-bit word lengths."
Well - no SACD there yet - will check further, as I'm always interested in saving what's left of our National Heritage, whether in book or recording form.
The LOC has a HUGE collection of the Alan Lomax work - and much of the tape is so deteriorated that it's considered in a "crisis" mode. I can't imagine what it must be like to slowly rewind old paper-based tape, and watch it disintegrate before my eyes. Same with so many of our old motion picture stock, which is also in "crisis" stage. Sigh.
Have a fine, dry day - Larry R.
PS - can get more info from rsrc@loc.gov.

[therockman]

Thank you very much Larry for the info.


Rocky Bennett

[Danny Tse]

Slightly off-topic, but related, there is the following story on the front page of today's San Francisco Chronicle that describe how scientists at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory are using electron microscopes to recover old audio recordings (mapping the grooves)....no DSD mentioned for archival format though....

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2004/07/12/MNGJP7JRC21.DTL

[Oldwriter]

Yo - just read with GREAT interest the SF Chronicle article you so kindly posted. I've bookmarked the original site for further reading, as I'm quite involved in some research on preservation in its various forms - stuff for an old colleague at the Chicago Tribune.
Think I heard something about this on NPR recently - my wife listens to much more of it than I do - has it on all day in her sculpting studio.
Yes - it was worthwhile, and yes, I do appreciate! Larry R.