“The New York Times and the Hollywood Reporter both have recently written about a new 74-page report from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences called ‘The Digital Dilemma: Strategic Issues in Archiving and Accessing Digital Motion Picture Materials’ (not yet online).

The paper addresses a perennial Long Now concern: the ephemeral nature of digital preservation. How digital media are short lived, and liable for early extinction. There are some new and interesting facts suggested by the reports. In a December 23, 2007 article called ‘The Afterlife is Expensive for Digital Movies’ the Times claims that the crux of the preservation dilemma is that analog, while less desirable is much cheaper: ‘To store a digital master record of a movie costs about $12,514 a year, versus the $1,059 it costs to keep a conventional film master.'” (Kevin Kelly’s Lifestream)