X-Message-Number: 2656 Date: Sun, 20 Mar 94 08:34:22 EST From: Newsgroups: sci.cryonics Message-ID: <> Subject: Videotape Longevity I7> ------------ CryoNet Message Auto-Forwarded by ------------- I7> ----------- Kevin Q. Brown <> ----------- I7>> Date: 18 Mar 94 22:14:13 EST I7>> From: Mike Darwin <> I7>> Message-Subject: SCI.CRYONICS Videotape Longevity I7>Tim Freeman writes that videotape looses its "readability" within a I7>decade or less. This is not so. It takes longer but it does happen. It I7>happens primarily because the magnetic material is bound to or "glued" to I7>the terpthlate substrate with a urethane adhesive. In fact in some tapes I7>there may be five or six layers of material attached to the substrate. I7>The substrate is more or less indefinitely stable, its the other part of I7>the tape that aren't. [Deleted] I7>Mike Darwin You might also want to store a PLAYER. A friend has had a very difficult time trying to read NASA data tapes from the early lunar exploration days, it seems there aren't any working tape machines left that can read them! The last I heard, he was trying to get someone to custom build a machine to read them. This appears to be a big problem with any achival storage of data, I have some data tapes I made 20 years ago that I can't read now (how many of us have 9-track tape drives?). Also, when HDTV comes in around 2000, regular TV broadcasts will be dropped, obsoleting ALL current TV recorders and sets. Just someting to think about. Jerry Durand ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Jerry Durand | tel: +1 408 356-3886 | Standing on the edge Durand Interstellar, Inc. | fax: +1 408 356-4659 | of reality. Los Gatos, California | | Rate This Message: http://www.cryonet.org/cgi-bin/rate.cgi?msg=2656