Originally published at: https://boingboing.net/2019/03/13/save-the-arc-the-largest-popu.html
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Can we get a happy mutant in here to build a contraption to automagically load LPs, scan their covers and interior artwork, then play the vinyl on the finest turntable imaginable that is digitized at artisanal rates in super duper dolby crunched to a variety of formats (all OGG) and then uploads that to the library of congress. Oh and it makes a cassette tape as well, just in case.
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Or perhaps just employ more archivists for this kind of work? We have an over abundance of historians who might like work, actually, who could shift gears into archival work easily.
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But that wouldn’t be fully automated luxury Culture (someone here suggested removing Communism from the label). I was jokingly suggesting an alien dreadnaught gizmo to do the job when a few humans, a couple interns and tru fans with a simple set of off the shelf components could actually save the contents of those discs before they become too degraded over time. mb not joking about uploading to library of congress.
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Also, any digitized copy is only a copy. The disk is the original and will last linger than a digial file.
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Holy shit, you know what that floor space in Tribeca is worth?
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Only if you don’t play the original. Every subsequent play degrades the vinyl, i’d rather have access to a really good digital copy. The physical format is only going to really matter for people who are intensely particular about audio quality, and that’s a rabbit hole i don’t particularly need to go down.
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Physical copies degrade, digital files just disappear forever.
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For my personal use i think i’d rather have my library digitized, i don’t have much of a need for keeping CDs, albums and the like. For archival use proper physical formats do last for quite some time and having something tangible to go through is its own unique experience.
My dad for one has taken to collecting all kinds of music, cataloguing it, making notes, etc in the past 5-10 years or so. It brings him a ton of joy 
He has ripped most of it though so he can access it while he’s at work.
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It beautiful, so say I.
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Now that’s a record collection! I think I can spare some money to help finance this.
Like project gutenberg, but for music.
It’s a good idea. Digital working copies are phenomenal. I have access to books I’d only have very limited access to otherwise. And I can take that digital copy home, and if I spill coffee on it, no big deal. But if the work doesn’t circulate, if there is no way for someone to play/read/enjoy that work, it will become lost.
Will the digital copy every replace the original? Oh Hell no. (we can pull a lot of indirect information from a work (construction material, context, underwriting, etc) that we just may not have the technology for now.)
But having something that can reach an audience? Yeah. That’s important.
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