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[OM] Digital storage (was Digital vs. film)

Subject: [OM] Digital storage (was Digital vs. film)
From: Dan Lau <dlau@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Date: Wed, 9 Sep 1998 10:11:42 -0700 (PDT)
On Wed, 09 Sep 1998 10:10, "C.H.Ling" <chling@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
>Yes, Ken, I agree with you, with present's technologies film is still
>much better than digital in terms of quality and price. But I just want
>to point out that, the digital image developed very fast, just like the
>computer, speed and capacity has increased more than a hundred times in
>20 years (with the same price level).

>Concerning the storage, here a 650MB CD-ROM cost only 1.5US. It can
>store 100 images with PCD format or JPEG compressed images. I think it
>can last for over 50 years, what is the price for each image?

I've mentioned this before and I'll mention it again.  The problem
with the fast changing technology is not the fact that it is not
big/fast/cheap/accurate/durable, but the problem is in the fast
obsolescence of the digital storage technology itself.

I still have boxes of punched cards that are less than 25 years old, and
the information is still there.  The life span of those punched cards
can last another 50 years.  But just try to find a card reader that
can recover the information today, and you'll understand what I mean.
The same can be said for 1/2 inch mag tape, 14 inch disk cartridges,
SMD hard drives, MFM hard drives, ESDI hard drives, 8 inch floppies,
5.25 inch floppies, various cartridge tapes, various removable archival
storage devices, and so on and so on...

And even if you can find a physical device that can handle the storage
media, trying to find a device driver that can interface that device
to the current operating systems is another obstacle.  I can still buy
8 inch floppy drives from salvage companies, but who is going to build
the interface to today's computers (both HW and SW)?  Sure, the data
is still there on those floppies, but you just can't get to it.

The current CD technology is very quickly being replaced by newer
formats; MD and DVD are probably the most visible, but there are many
other similar new technologies.  I know, someone will say: "CD is not
just for computer storage, there are billions of audio CD's around,
they can not get rid of it that quickly."  Well, if you remember the
old vinyl records of not too long ago, they disappeared overnight and
are completely replaced by CDs.  The same can happen to the current CD
technology.
        -Dan

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