Is there a device like this (or is it even possible?)

[Giganova]

Isn't the Neumann Solution-D the answer to your question? Its a digital mic that stays "entirely into the digital domain, thus closing the last gap in the signal path for digital audio production" (Neumann quote). Seems like Neumann is still on top of things after almost 100 years in the business.

I assume no-one here has ever tried it, though

 

[dirtythermos]

The biggest problem I have with digital media (photography, or audio) is longevity. I have glass plate negatives dating from the civil war that are still usable. (And no, I'm NOT that old!). Remember the consumer digital recorders that used a cassette? Try to play those back. JPGs? What happens when the HD they're stored on goes down? And it will go down.

Longevity is a problem with any media, not just digital. Magnetic tape gets demagnetized, glass breaks, DVDs decompose.. Some media is longer-lasting than others, for sure, but it's not the fault of the digital data that the media doesn't last.

One nice thing about digital data is that it is very easy to duplicate exactly. I can copy my JPG to 1000 different hard drives, magnetic tape, CD, DVD, etc. and it is exatly the same everywhere. Try doing that with a film negative.

 

[minofifa]

What do you think the master copy of say....Robert Johnson's first recordgins is recorded on?? a tape real?? That must be around..... 60 years old at least (guessing really). So this will eventually wear out?? to record companies take measures to preserve original copies of their artists?? i whould think that digitial would be the best way to do this. It would be much easier to copy a hard drive every few years that it woulbe to duplicate a tape real. How do they preserve those old recordings though?

 

[MadAudio]

As far as I know there is no proven digital preservation format - the technology is just too young. I used to work for a company that did audio preservation and restoration, and analog tape is still the preferred preservation medium of the Library of Congress and the National Archives. I once got to play a tape made in the 1940's that sounded as if it had just been recorded the day before.

 

[dirtythermos]

For the record, you can store digital data on magnetic tape. They've been doing it since the 60s and it is still the cheapest and most reliable way to archive data long-term.

The university I attended recorded every single packet that crossed from their network to the internet (and vise versa), archived two copies on magnetic tape, and stored them in separate data warehouses, so even if one of them burned to the ground, they would still have the second copy.

 

[crazydoc]

The university I attended recorded every single packet that crossed from their network to the internet (and vise versa), archived two copies on magnetic tape, and stored them in separate data warehouses, so even if one of them burned to the ground, they would still have the second copy.

And I thought that I was a pack rat!

It's a good thing that nothing lasts for ever (or even very long). That way the 99.99% that is crap will go back to dust where we don't have to worry about the space or energy to keep it, and people can make a living restoring and preserving the other 0.01% that society deems has some value.

 

[apl]

I heard a story on NPR a couple of years ago that told about the library of congress putting all their audio archives on 78 RPM lacquer phonograph discs. The reasons: almost infinite shelf-life, and it can be played with very low tech equipment. That's in case the world ceases to exist as we know it, and some future cave man digs them up 20000 years from now.

 

[crazydoc]

I heard a story on NPR a couple of years ago that told about the library of congress putting all their audio archives on 78 RPM lacquer phonograph discs. The reasons: almost infinite shelf-life, and it can be played with very low tech equipment. That's in case the world ceases to exist as we know it, and some future cave man digs them up 20000 years from now.

I think they would still melt in a nuclear holocaust, a building fire, and maybe even global warming.

 

[lpdeluxe]

I vote for the nuclear holocaust.

 

[Paj]

Digital mic

I ain't seen 'em, used 'em, or heard 'em:

Beyerdynamic MCD series (~$1600 list).

This is certainly something: They claim a S/N ratio of 115 dB!

Paj
8^)

 

[Innovations]

Magnetic tape is hardly a permanent storage mechanism.

Apart from being chizeled in stone, about the best you can do right now is a CD under controlled storage environment conditions.

As for digital microphones, I don't really see the need. It is just a matter of where you do the A/D conversion in the chain.