Do you still have a lot of non-digital (i.e. analog) media lying around? It could be anything from old cassette or videotapes or even film negatives. While there is nothing wrong with using or keeping that type of media, there are several benefits to switching your collection to digital files instead.
Some of the more convincing reasons to convert analog media into digital files are because
- Digital files don’t take up anywhere near as much space
A hard drive or even a USB drive can hold thousands of photos, music tracks, and videos. To be honest there really is no comparison and if you convert your analog media to digital files they’ll definitely consume far less physical space.
- Browsing through a collection of digital files is far easier
If you have a large collection of photos, videos, or tapes – browsing through them as physical media can be time-consuming, especially if your collection isn’t organized. With digital files, you can always search all your files, and provided they are properly named you should have no trouble finding what you’re after.
- There is less of a worry about degradation
One of the main problems with analog media is that they need to be carefully preserved otherwise they will degrade over time and end up being scratched, stretched, torn, and so on. With digital files, you don’t need to worry about that happening, though admittedly the hard drive that stores the files could degrade eventually. Still seeing as digital files can be backed up more easily – it definitely less of a concern.
- Players for analog media are harder to come by
While digital files can be played on practically any computer, mobile device, or another platform, analog media require specific players. That is a problem because the players for analog media are becoming harder and harder to come by, and fixing your existing players when they break down will only take you so far. In short digital files is more future proof.
- Files can be transferred and shared more easily
To transfer or share analog media you need to make a copy of the physical media and then physically give it to the person you want to share it too. Instead of that digital files can be transferred via email, chat apps, and other methods in a fraction of the time.
If you’re convinced and want to make the switch, you should start digitizing your collection of analog media gradually. Photos can be scanned while converting cassettes or VHS to digital will require that you connect the player to your PC then use software such as Movavi Video Editor to do the job.
Of course, if you’re a purist and feel that analog media sounds better or looks better – it doesn’t hurt to keep the analog media anyway but digitize a copy as well. That way you have a backup of sorts, and if anything unfortunate should happen to your collection you won’t end up losing the media completely.
