Legacy Matters
David Pogue who writes a weekly column in Circuits of the New York Times also writes a weekly newsletter a
and by far, his most popular subject is how to Rescue Old, Outdated Media. Here from his newsletter are some links that might be helpful to you as you create and maintain your personal and family legacy archives.
TRANSFERRING AUDIO TAPES TO CD:
If you have a Windows PC:
http://www.g4techtv.com/callforhelp/features/22210/Transfer_Tape_to_CD.html>
If you have a Mac, here are a couple of different approaches:
http://www.wap.org/journal/digitizingcassettes/default.html
http://lowendmac.com/lab/03/0814.html
TRANSFERRING VINYL RECORDS TO CD: Take your pick of free tutorials:
http://www.thelaughingpapillon.com/vinyl2cd.php
http://answers.google.com/answers/threadview?id=387506
http://www.cyberwalker.net/columns/feb02/150202.html
http://www.pcworld.com/howto/article/0,aid,46164,00.asp
TRANSFERRING VHS (AND OTHER ANALOG) VIDEOS TO DVD:
Here are several sets of instructions, all variations on the theme.
They're here for Windows: http://www.pcworld.com/howto/article/0,aid,97624,00.asp
http://reviews.cnet.com/4520-3000_7-5071953-1.html . . . .
and here for the Mac:
http://answers.google.com/answers/threadview?id=91153
http://www.macworld.com/2004/05/features/fromvhstodvd/index.php
TRANSFERRING OLD FILM TO DVD: This one's not so easy. There is such a thing as a mirrored apparatus that lets you play your old films from a projector directly into a modern camcorder, but it's a royal pain, it's time-consuming and the resulting quality isn't so great. That's why most experts concede defeat on this one and recommend that you send your reels off to a commercial transfer service. That's the conclusion by this online columnist, for example, which includes links to several such transfer companies (which I haven't tested):
http://channels.lockergnome.com/windows/archives/