From the archives

If there's anything worse than cleaning out the garage, it is cleaning out computer files--drafts, quotes, used-up, moved-on, out-of-date, etc. While on my blogging break, I'm browsing files to see what can be thrown out or recycled. Very tedious. I can't find that I ever posted this one about the product called Octavo. I was alternately impressed and depressed as I read about this wonderful opportunity. According to the file date, I wrote this in January 2004:

Digital editions of famous, beautifully illustrated, ancient and old texts are available from Octavo. For instance, Josiah Dwight Whitney’s Yosemite Book is a spectacular record of a 19th century survey with 28 photographs--a book that helped convince the Congress to preserve Yosemite is available for only $25, a digital Wycliffe New Testament in Middle English could be mine for $40, the Gutenberg Bible in Latin for $80, and a Latin Mercator Atlas for $65. Even for personal use, these digital editions are affordable.

However, my concern would be the next generation or three of computer technology. I now own three, built in 1994, 2001 and 2003--less than a decade. Octavo has already issued three versions corresponding to the abilities of Adobe Acrobat. None would work in my oldest computer, and maybe someday, a version wouldn’t work in my 2003. To work back and forth is a headache if it were even possible.

What I buy digitized today, will it work in 3 or 5 or 10 years, or sit in the back of the cabinet with the old “floppies,” fat cables for printers, switching boxes, early USB cables, photo imaging software? When I look at my book shelves, I can pull off books owned by my grandparents and great-grandparents and immediately access.

From the archives #2

While I'm noting changes in computer software (see previous post), might as well include this one about your homemade CDs and DVDs I wrote last June.

Although I think librarians have known about this guide for some time, the Wall Street Journal in June 2004 featured a story about Dr. Disc, mild mannered Fred Byers of the National Institute of Standards and Technology. He’s promoting a seal of approval for a disc’s longevity.

Home made CDs and DVDs are coated with dye, and the laser burns a pattern. But the dye can fade, particularly in the sunlight.

The guide http://www.itl.nist.gov/div895/carefordisc/ is dated October 2003 and is 50 pages, or try thenice one page summary, http://www.itl.nist.gov/div895/carefordisc/disccare.html