Are Your Memories All Wrapped Up In Tape?
ACT NOW TO KEEP YOUR AUDIO/VIDEO MEMORIES SAFE
My dad passed away in that time before audio and video tape made home recordings a commonplace family heirloom. As far as I know there’s nothing of him in motion, even in silent 8mm home movie footage. And as much as I treasure the photos I have to remember him by, I’ve come to appreciate the power of motion and sound to spark special memories. I see it with my clients all the time.
As luck would have it, though, my dad was a professor of biology at Oregon State and a writer of academic papers and books. Conversation was his medium of choice so it was natural that he chose to dictate his thoughts for his secretary to transcribe and type. I remember standing in the hall outside his home study, hearing his voice as he recorded the words and punctuation on tiny cobalt blue plastic records.
In retirement, he decided to write a memoir and it followed that he would dictate that, too, finally documenting the wonderful stories he had often shared of his rural boyhood in Washington State and his career as a wildlife biologist.
Dad’s untimely death cut that project short, however, and all I have of that rich media is a pair of reel-to-reel tape conversions that my mom wisely commissioned before Dad’s dictaphone followed him to the great beyond. They lived in our fire safe for years, out of sight, until I was looking for some other old media there and thought to send them off for digitizing. Never had a reel-to-reel tape deck and never will. Why not have them digitized so I could enjoy them?
What I didn’t expect was that the tape had deteriorated and about 45 minutes of the 3 hour recording was unrecoverable. Lost. My only comfort was that those 50 year-old tapes had been copied again to 30 year old cassettes for convenience, and that those yielded decent enough recordings that I could hear my father’s comments in his own voice.
The point of all this is that I got lucky. There were plenty of ways that this could have gone bad and I’d have been left without the one snippet of my dad’s personality to enjoy.
A few minutes of audio. The jumpy film of first steps. Video clips of Christmas morning around the tree. All those experiences that seem so trivial in the moment, but become priceless with time; they need attention to be preserved.
Audio and video tape deteriorates. CD’s and DVD’s become unreadable. I see it with clients all the time. Even flash drives aren’t likely to last forever.
My takeaway is this.
Any tape or disk media that’s more than 10 years old . . . okay, let’s just say ANY taped or disk recording of ANYTHING you would miss needs to be digitized right now. Audio recordings, video tape, photos; anything we use to capture our life moments are really independent of the media they are stored on. Like old fashioned storytelling, they need to be passed on and revisited to stay alive.
Tape and CD/DVD recordings are not permanent media. They are just the flash drives and SD cards of yesteryear. Refresh and/or migrate your images, videos, and other important content every 5-7 years.
So this is the time to go through your storage to find the old camcorder that Uncle Wilbur kept sticking in your face at family gatherings and turn his tapes into the treasures they are. You also want to find a qualified photo manager or conversion service to do the work. Some media requires special equipment or skilled handling to get the best result. The Photo Managers has a directory of certified professionals worldwide who are trained to handle motion media.
And just as important as ensuring these memories aren’t lost forever, you will be making your family video and audio clips accessible again. Digital files can be viewed on many devices including your iPhone and smart TV.
If you would like to work with me, here are two ways I can help:
COACHING & CONSULTING • Get expert, patient help to bash the overwhelm and build excitement using your photos. Become comfortable taking, organizing, and sharing your pictures with family and friends. Create a photo collection that captures your life and provides enjoyment every time you view it.
PHOTO MANAGEMENT • If you need a photobook, video/montage, or other project done for you, I can help. Overwhelmed by an out of control photo collection that you can’t face? I’m your guy. You’ll get decades of experience as a photographer and graphic artist, with over 12 years as an Apple Photos expert and certified photo manager. Let’s talk.