10/10/2026
We need to talk about ageing.
Not human ageing (although that's important as well) but media ageing. At Share Your Story we are asked every day to restore or digitize various old media. When that's a photograph, or slide, or VHS or audio cassette we can almost certainly do it. But there are three major problems that we will grow over time and mean memories are lost.
1. Damage: Media may be stored in the wrong way. We regularly are asked to digitise VHS tapes stored in garages that have become mouldy and won't work anymore. Or media that is used a lot can stretch or rip, for example 8mm tape especially if it has been spliced and stuck together.
2. Fading: This is most obvious with photographs that have been left in sunlight, but it's something that affects other media. We were recently asked to find some footage on a DVD-R disc from 2008 only to find that this type of media has a lifespan of 10-20 years as the data is essentially painted on.
3. Obsolescence: Audio reel-to-reel can't be transferred now due to lack of equipment (if you have some kit please let us know). 8mm tape with a soundtrack is similarly becoming a highly specialist and expensive process with little equipment left. And this list can only get longer - for example while there are still a lot of VHS machines around, the last new one was made in 2016.
Modern digital formats and prints aren't going to last for ever, but they will last a long time! New acid-free prints should last 100 years while digital audio and video can be copied with no loss of quality and stored in multiple places physically and digitally.
If you've got memories you'd like to keep, pop into 85 George Street and let us help you - we do most of our work on-site, reducing any chance of losing precious memories in the post.
Here’s a picture of our ‘conversion station’ with a wide range of equipment to transfer old media.
