Sound recordings

[Sapoznik <Sapoznik...>]

Sholem Aleichem,
Congratulations on the formation of your new Jewish music archives. As the
designer and former Director of the Archives of Recorded Sound of the YIVO
Institute for Jewish Research in New York (1982-1994), I feel I should offer
you a small bit of advice regarding your propsed use of DATs to house your
music materials.
Due to the current studies of the long-term storage capabilities of digital
recording media (DATs, RCDs, etc.) there are no reputable repositories which
use them until their archival quality is fully tested. It would be better for
you to record on a dependable fully tested tape medium such as analog reel to
reel tape recorded at as high a speed as possible (15 ips US). This way, when
the long term storage and sonic retention capabilities are known, you can
then transfer them to the accepted medium. There is no evidence that DATs
will be that long term storage medium as it is only a gateway technology
(half digital/ half analog) and that its long term sonic range is
questionable at best.
Analog may not be the most sexy technology with all the digital technologies
around today, but for the moment it is the only one used by the world's most
reputable archives (The Library of Congress, Smithsonian Institution.)
Hob a zisn un a gezintn peysakh, 

Henry Sapoznik 
Executive Director
Living Traditions