Digitise your media

Posted on 10 Mar 2009 at 11:49

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Your LPs, audio cassettes and video tapes will be useless when the technology needed to play them finally disappears. Dawinderpal Sahota explains how to rescue them.

It may seem as if CDs and DVDs have been with us forever, but it wasn't too long ago that all music was supplied on tapes and vinyl records, while the movie departments of high street shops were filled with VHS cassettes. Your music and video collection probably still contains many of these types of media. However, most media players today play content only in digital formats, and old equipment needed to play VHS tapes, audio cassettes and vinyl records is almost obsolete. It's essential that you act fast to salvage those memories and convert them to a digital format before it's too late.

Digitising analogue content has a number of benefits, such as saving physical storage space. You can store thousands of music tracks and hundreds of video files on a single hard disk. The equivalent number of records, audio cassettes and VHS tapes would fill a typical living room.

If you store your music and video digitally, the quality doesn't degrade over time or through repeated use. Vinyl records are susceptible to scratches, while audio and video cassette players can stretch or chew up tape. Storing content on a hard disk is much safer in comparison. "Storing LPs badly and allowing them to warp, which they will if they are not stored vertically, is a common fault," explains Derek Varnals, technical adviser at the British Phonographic Industry (BPI). Dust also affects the audio quality of LPs. "Keeping them in their sleeves will reduce the gathering of dust, but it will happen. All plastic items suffer from static electricity, which attracts dust."

People often believe that tapes degenerate over time. Is there a way to stop this? "In general these old analogue formats will not degrade under their own steam provided they are stored and used properly," explains Varnals. "Most damage is caused by misuse, particularly of tapes, which will probably tangle if not rewound to the end when they're finished with. This happens because small vibrations put a bit of slack in the tape. When played, the slack tape can get caught in the head or drive mechanism."

Personal video recorders (PVRs), DVDs, CDs and even MP3 files have replaced cassette tape technology. As a result, inexpensive VHS players, record decks and audio cassette players are increasingly difficult to find. They will also be more difficult to fix when they go wrong.

In this article we'll show you how to extract audio content from vinyl and cassettes, and video from VHS tapes. We'll then explain how to convert the results to digital files.

Copyright protection

It's important to note that it's illegal to make unauthorised copies of copyrighted material, even if you own a legitimate copy of the original. Eddie Leviton, a spokesperson at the Federation Against Copyright Theft (FACT), told Computer Shopper that making a copy of copyrighted content, such as a movie stored on a DVD, often involves breaking some of the encryption or region coding on the disc. The process of circumventing protective measures shows that you're doing something against the wishes of the person who provided the content. "Technically you are making a copy, and the fact that you use the term 'ripping' - even the terminology suggests it's not legal," he says. "But I know the British Phonographic Industry said it would not prosecute anyone for doing this. If you're making a copy because the kids want to watch a copy, it's unlikely anyone will prosecute you, but technically you are breaking the law."