I hear it all the time that an older family member had passed away and people inherit old film, photos and/or videos. They have all this media and do not know what to do with it all. Or there was a storm their basement flooded and all their precious memories are gone for good.
Most people don’t realize that over time, film and analog tape (both video/audio) degrade as does the quality of what is recorded on them. If one can remember a cassette tape and when they played it over and over the sound quality started to get muffled, that also happens when it sits in a musky basement or hot attic. I suggest that when you have a lot of old media it should get digitized into a file and be kept on a disc or in the cloud. As time goes on the players which once played these reels or tapes are getting obsolete and they don’t last forever to play them over again.
By transferring your analog to high-quality, long-lasting digital disc, you can relive your special memories for a lifetime. If properly cared for, it is predicted that a disc will last more than a 100 years. Since your tape is transferred onto a disc as digital information, your precious memories will NEVER wear out. No matter how many times you play the disc, you will never experience one bit of picture or audio quality loss. Some folks say that the disc players may not last as some laptops don’t have disc drives anymore. I would have the files transferred onto a thumb or external hard drive. From there, you can copy the files into your cloud and share the memories with other loved ones.
Photographs and slides are memories that have a rich and personal meaning and are very unique. If they are lost or damaged, the information they provide can never be replaced. Why not have them scanned and archived onto a disc or hard drive? You can create a nice “slide show” and play them over and over and they will never lose their quality as well. Again, once you have a photo digitized you can then share it on your social media or with friends and family.
Memories are priceless and it is very important to try and save them for you to see them over and over again reliving the experiences. It’s nice to see your great great grandparent and see if you have resemblance.
