[Nfb-history] Digitizing More Literature

[Steve Jacobson]

Everyone,

As one who has worked some on this kind of project, there are a number of things about doing this that add 
complexity that are not obvious.  It can, of course, be done by volunteers, but quality control of some kind is 
more important than one might think.

If one records on one's PC, there is always the possibility of loosing bits of the recording due to what is called 
Latency" in the sound card.  Basically, this means the computer and/or sound card gets too busy to keep up with 
the flow of data from a cassette or other analog input devices.  Some sound cards deal with this better than 
others, and people will tell you that if you do this or that, you won't have a problem, but frankly you can never 
be sure unless you listen to the entire recording you have digitized.  I've had recordings come out just fine 
except for a minute or two right in the middle.  Therefore, we're really talking about more than software, 
hardware is involved, too.

I have come to the opinion that one is better off using a digital recorder of some time to capture audio and then 
transfer it to a PC.  Some have told me that Linux does a better job of isolating sound capturing from other tasks 
but I don't have personal experience with that.  The BookPort Plus and the BookSense using WAV format seems to do 
a pretty decent job, particularly on audio that comes from cassettes.  I found the original VR Stream to roll off 
substantially on the low end when recording but don't know if the latest one still does that or not.  Of course, 
some of the Olympus recorders would do fine as well, but one is best off using something with a "Line In" input.

Another two variables involve the source materials.  Our litterature on cassettes is variable in the quality of 
the copies that have been distributed.  To really do a decent job, one should start with the original or at least 
a copy that is known to be of good quality.  What makes a copy good or bad depends upon the units involved in the 
duplication process, and isn't consistent.

The other variable is this.  When dealing with cassettes, the alignment of the playback head on a cassette player 
can make a huge difference in the reproduction of a cassette.  Unfortunately, there is not exactly a right or 
wrong way to have the heads aligned.  The best results will be achieved when the heads on the playback machine are 
aligned to the record head on the machine doing the recording.  In other words, if the record heads were not 
aligned exactly according to the standard alignment, the quality will be substantially better having the playback 
heads aligned to the record heads of the unit doing the recording than if the heads are perfectly aligned to a 
standard alignment tape.  The heads on these devices tend to not stay aligned, and the relatively slow speed of 
cassette tapes makes alignment critical.

Having said all this, I am one who feels that getting recordings archived at less than ideal quality is probably 
better than having material lost, but these are the kinds of things that need to be considered.  It would be a 
waste to have volunteers do a bunch of work to create recordings of lower quality if there are plans to do a more 
controlled job down the line.  Also, there has been a lot of work converting old recordings into a digital format 
already, and it is not at all impossible that some of this has already been converted but not moved to where it 
can be accessed easily.  I know that Harold Snider converted a lot of stuff when he was alive but do not know if 
it included some of the recordings that Tina is referring to or not.

I would be interested, though, to hear how raising funds to do this would help if it is not seen as a priority.  
This is partly a funding problem and partly one of priority given what has happened in the past.  I quite honestly 
don't know whether this should be given a priority over something else or not, but if it is seen as a low priority 
item, then a volunteer effort of lower quality might be worth it.  One should not kid themselves, though, that 
this is an easy job.

Best regards,

Steve Jacobson

On Mon, 16 Dec 2013 00:13:25 -0800, Tina Hansen wrote:

>I would do it, but there is no way I can do it all. I would need some help.

>What software would you recommend? If nothing. I could at least hit some of the stuff after the first of the 
year, and maybe set some funds aside to pay a studio. Otherwise, what software would you recommend? Thanks.