Audio visual archivists are already aware of the phenomenon of current media format obsolescence (1.1) . In this tutorial we will explore how the lifecycles of IT storage media (1.2) can be even shorter than the media commonly used in discrete storage(g) archives, and how a mass storage(g) system can cope with this relatively easily.

What are the costs of obsolescence?

Typically new formats are supported by the equipment manufacturers for between ten and twenty years. The cost of using the media rapidly fall at the beginning of the lifecycle as the technology is broadly licensed, and then a slow decrease in cost over the main part of the lifecycle continues. Once support begins to dry up however the costs associated with the use of the format rapidly rise, as the maintenance of equipment, the replacement of worn media and the retention of trained staff becomes more problematic. These cost rises often coincide with a surge in use of the format in archives, as the effort to migrate content to the next format gets underway.

Why do formats become obsolete?

Technology developers in IT, Broadcast and Consumer A/V markets seek competitive advantage by the application of new technologies. With each advance they implement, their range of offerings to the market increases. It is important that they recoup the investment in research that has led to the development of the new offerings, and it may also be the case that the advantage

To begin exploring this tutorial you can either: look in more detail at current media format obsolescence (left button below), or begin to explore the obsolescence issues of IT storage media (middle button below).

Once you are more familiar with the issues involved in each case, take a look at the concluding section - How IT storage overcomes many of the migration issues associated with discrete media (right button below).