That means that only the final mono or stereo mix can preserved, provided one has a turntable to play it back. I have seen laser turntables that use a laser to read the grooves on both sides of the track. Efficient but it still only preserves the mono/stereo mix. I remember you had to ''cook'' many tapes that were only a few decades old. So the multi-track aspect remains at risk. Robert -----Original Message----- From: klaatumail@xxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:klaatumail@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Bradley, David Sent: Tuesday, August 11, 2009 1:56 PM To: klaatumail@xxxxxxxxxxxxx Subject: [klaatumail] Re: King Crimson (no kk) > Wow! what do record companies do with important catalogs like the Beatles? They hold on to the original analog parts, whether they be original disc recordings (like in the 30s and 40s) or analog tapes. A bigger question, what happens to ORIGINAL DIGITAL recordings. Ever buy a CD that is DDD? There's never been an analog tape in the creation of that CD. And as we see, digital tape is highly unstable as an archival medium. > The final question is, then, what IS an archival medium? The accepted norms for long term (read, hundreds of years) analog storage is disc (such as 78s, LPs, etc) and analog reel to reel tape. Both of which are known to last decades so far. Even analog tape with sticky shed syndrome can be made playable again, usually with incredible results. Dave Bradley