Videos & CD-ROMs

500 years vs. 20 years

We admit the following: We strongly favor the book over electronic and magnetic media. There are many reasons for this, but the basic one is the book's astonishing longevity, quality, and accessibility (it's user-friendly).

On a deeper level, we believe that paper and ink have a singular place in the world because of their beauty and simplicity. The subtle effects of holding and reading a book contribute to a different state of mind — the "reading state", it is now called. It is a place of creative contemplation that we aim to support.

Now, on to specifics: According to a report from the Council on Library and Information Resources, the following statistics can be compared to the fact that non-acidic buffered paper lasts up to 500 years:

-- videotapes are unlikely to last 20 years, even under ideal storage conditions

-- videotapes can become archivally unreliable after 5 years

-- CD-ROMs are reliable for 10 years or less

-- the hardware and software needed to use CD-ROMs become obsolete within 5 years

Having said that, we also want to appreciate the way professionally prepared videos can show speech patterns, body language, and ambience. CD-ROMs? Well, they seem to store about as much information as a medium-size book with 30 photographs, but they do offer the service of allowing the viewer to access links to the web.

However, according to a September 1, 2003 report in PC-Active, a Dutch magazine, recent Dutch tests suggest that although some CD manufacturers claim that their CDs will last up to a century, "the CD-R is the wrong medium to store data files, music, or photos for posterity." The tests found that a significant number of CD-ROMs degraded even under normal conditions (room temperature, no sunlight) within months and projected that even better quality CDs will degrade sooner than manufacturers' projections.

Thus, with at least a modicum of confidence in the test of time, we believe that offset-printed books on acid-free paper are the only sure medium other than carved stone, metal, or space-age ceramics. Videos and CDs are a wonderful and appropriate accompaniment, however, and we are pleased to work with selected peers to provide clients with videos or CDs at competitive prices if they request it.