Right, Jessica. I was just commenting on your observation that cassette players are easily available. I think they are available because people still need them. But the link someone else sent regarding new material issued on tapes is relevant, too. Re. obsolete formats, though, my point that most commercially valuable material issued on audiocassette is probably available in a better-quality recording in another format is very relevant.
Judy From: videolib-boun...@lists.berkeley.edu [mailto:videolib-boun...@lists.berkeley.edu] On Behalf Of Jessica Rosner Sent: Tuesday, June 09, 2015 11:36 AM To: videolib@lists.berkeley.edu Subject: Re: [Videolib] obsolete formats I do not disagree but preservation is a seperate issue from what is legal defination of obsolete under the copyright law. For commercially produced and distributed (and I kind of assumed that what was being asked) which includes "educational" material sold on cassette is not an obsolete format. If you have personal interviews, research etc on cassette that is a different kettle of fish. On Tue, Jun 9, 2015 at 11:30 AM, Shoaf,Judith P <jsh...@ufl.edu<mailto:jsh...@ufl.edu>> wrote: I just checked on Amazon and oddly there are tons of brand new cassette players available in a variety of types. Jessica ************* I think it depends on what was on the tapes. For example, 8-tracks were mostly for commercial material which, if it was preserved, migrated to other formats. Nobody needs to be able to play them back. Laserdisks are the same—only used for commercial, theatrical films which were later issued as DVD or digital. This is not quite true (I have a precious laserdisc of a Chinese film which is not available in other formats, at least with English subs, and a player to play it on!), but mostly true. But huge amounts of personal, historical, etc. recordings were made on cassette tape. It was easy, portable, affordable. Even though individuals may not want to play the old tapes back, a lot of them have unique value (until they are digitized…). Yesterday’s high-quality bootleg cassette might be the basis of today’s CD box set. Judy VIDEOLIB is intended to encourage the broad and lively discussion of issues relating to the selection, evaluation, acquisition,bibliographic control, preservation, and use of current and evolving video formats in libraries and related institutions. It is hoped that the list will serve as an effective working tool for video librarians, as well as a channel of communication between libraries,educational institutions, and video producers and distributors.
VIDEOLIB is intended to encourage the broad and lively discussion of issues relating to the selection, evaluation, acquisition,bibliographic control, preservation, and use of current and evolving video formats in libraries and related institutions. It is hoped that the list will serve as an effective working tool for video librarians, as well as a channel of communication between libraries,educational institutions, and video producers and distributors.
