Sonic Man wrote:
Mr. T wrote:
"Sonic Man" wrote in message
...

Say you are a typical recorded sound consumer, and over the last who
knows how many years you accumulated
- hundreds vinyl LPs, some vinyl singles, and maybe even some old
78s
- hundreds cassette tapes, prerecorded and your own recordings
- hundreds CDs, prerecorded and your own recordings
with pop, jazz, classical music and spoken word.

Now you decide to invest the effort to put it all in one medium, so
you can throw away the turntable and the cassette deck. What will
you do?


Keep the turntable and cassette deck for future use. You are
unlikely to convert all those old recordings in one go! Just start
with the important stuff.


Convert the vinyl and tapes to .wav files and put them all on CDs
that you can play in CD players and on your computer?
Convert everything into MP3 files, back them up on DVDs, and
download them into your iPod or home system as needed?


Simple. The vinyl, and tapes have to be converted to wave files to
go to MP3/WMA etc. anyway. Burn them to CD at that stage (CDR's are
cheap now) Now convert to MP3/WMA/OGG/whatever else comes along, as
necessary for mobile/convenience uses.


I would prefer to manage just one format long-term, but I will
consider your suggestion if I understand it better. Why is it better
to use .wav for archiving (on CDRs), and not for example MP3? Do you
see the .wav standard as more long-lived?

MP3 is a compressed format. Something gets lost. Archiving to .wav ensures
that whatever's there is still there if you decide you 'squashed' your MP3's
a little too hard and want to start over. Also if you want to burn a CD
which will play in a standard player, you'll get an exact copy if you
archive in .wav.

And if the .wav files are only for archiving, not for playing, why not
store them on DVDs, to save on storage volume?

No reason, except that the jury's still out on just 'how' long term *any*
format actually is.