Funny thing about the long term viability of digital audio is the effect on the low to medium level of the pro-audio market.

Consider this -
I first started recording stuff like probably almost everyone - I bought a 4 track cassette deck and sort of plodded my way along with it. As time went on, I understood more and more about what I was doing. After about 10 years, the thing breaks for the third or fourth time. I'm much more serious about recording stuff than I was when I first got the thing, and the "pro-sumer" market has changed considerably. I can either

A) pay $200-$300 to have the thing fixed again (and do this year after year)
B) invest in an upgrade

Again, like most folks, I decide that it's time to move past the world of the Portastudio, and so I take a look at what my options are. I can stick with analog, or I can go digital. And, on the face of it, it looks like digital is a clear winner. I can buy a computer program and interface for between 1 to 2 grand, and boy oh boy, what do I get? All the tracks I could need, automation, effects that I could never possibly imagine needing (and some that are very useful), and all of the nice things that make $2000 spent on a digital setup so much nicer than the alternative. Hey, I'd love to spend the time and money on an analog 8 track transport unit, a nice mixing board, outboard gear, quality tape, etc., but I don't have the money unless I get shitty lowball equipment, and my technical knowledge of that world is limited. My recording needs are pretty straightforward, and digital gives me the bang for the buck.

All set, right?

Two years later (that is, right about now), I come across an article that mentions the results of a recent Dutch study: rather finding than an anticipated life span of a decade for consumer CD-R's, the researchers were finding some CD-R's that were failing after 2 years. Total failure.

This sets a light bulb off above my head. I have backed up all of the audio files for the record that my band recorded onto CD-R. While these files are not necessarily bad today, they will be someday, and sooner than I thought. So this gets me thinking: five years from now, how well will I be able to re-access the audio that we recorded? I am immensely proud of the record that we did; will the masters be there for me to go back to? And even if the CD's are okay, will I be able to run the same program that it was recorded on? Shit, it takes forever to tweak the goddam thing to run well on my laptop, and Windows crashes about once a day anyway. My bitchin’ program today will be a legacy that may or may not be supported by the upgrade.

I'll save too much more of the sob story. I know that I've got to bite the bullet, save up for a tape machine, teach myself well how to use it and maintain it, and put together a collection of the gear that I thought my digital audio program was giving me effortlessly. I will then record the digital audio onto analog tape so that I have a reliable master. Which is crazy, and I'm open to suggestions of a better method.

When I got the digital setup, I was thrilled that I was seemingly able to do things that were years and many dollars away in the analog world. I thought that the real technological improvement would make me (and many others like me) able to learn and experiment with music recording much easier and cheaper than before. What could be more punk rock than that? What's ironic is that I kept every cassette that I ever recorded on my 4 track, and just so long as I keep them in reasonably good shape and near my banged up Tascam 424, I will be able to play them forever. I wonder how many folks at the lower end of the pro-audio market who are interested in fairly simple recording will find themselves SOL a few years from now when their digital recordings have gone poof. It seems that the audio prosumer world has entered a Faustian deal - convenience, economy and bells and whistles, but don't mind the knife across your neck.

I am pissed off.

= Justin

PS – If anyone has a good deal on a nice Otari 8 track with an instruction manual, let me know.

Here's a link to a summary of the PC-Active article about CD-R life.

http://www.theregister.com/content/54/32593.html

= Justin

I have heard the best way to back up digital files is on DVD. I suggest you find someone with a DVD burning drive (soon more computers will have them just like they all have CD-roms and CD burners now). Also, external hard drives are so freaking cheap and only getting cheaper. Invest in a few (proper ones, that is) and use them to back-up sessions, files, etc. Check out www.pacificproaudio.com for some great drives especially good for such uses. My friend Barry (www.northbranchstudio.net) got me to invest in a great sled/bay drive that I can pull out and plug into his bay for very easy file/session transfers and sharing. It has 240 gig of memory between the sled and the drive. I know he backs all his stuff up on DVD. Yes, that means more things to spend money on but what is better to spend money on than things to protect your music and hard work?

The thing about digital storing is that it allows for the remastering fever. Every once in a while, a record is remastered. The difference lies in that it was made with records that were between ten and twenty (or more) years old. With digital storing, we will have a remastered edition every two years??
I felt very sympathetic with the analog to digital change. When I was getting used to the ins and outs of analog recording I switched to digital and I had to start from the beginning, and I couldn't understand why while I ran away from noise before now I missed it in its earlier form.