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Here's why "baking" damaged reel-to-reel tapes renders them playable again:
Reel-to-reel tapes are experiencing a resurgence of interest among audio buffs, but they are prone to degradation, which has been a topic of active research for many years. It's well known that applying heat can often reverse the damage sufficiently to enable playback, usually by baking the tapes in an oven. Now scientists at the US Library of Congress [(LOC)] have determined precisely why this method seems to work, presenting their findings earlier this month on the American Chemical Society's SciMeetings online platform.
Project leader Andrew Davis is a polymer chemist who works in the LOC's preservation research and testing division. The LOC's mission is to ensure its collections continue to be accessible to the public, either in their original or reformatted mediums. The R&D division is responsible for providing the scientific groundwork for that mission, similar to how the Smithsonian Institute employs research scientists to maintain its collections.
"We span everything from simple analytical tests, like determining the kind of ink used on paper, to testing all building and construction materials, and ensuring the stickers on the barcodes don't damage books," Davis told Ars.
Davis emphasizes that the audiotape collection is well-maintained and tapes are not literally decaying on the shelves as I type; he works to ensure that they remain in good condition. While the LOC continues to digitize its vast collection, there is still a large number of tapes in the archives that are still in their original format. They are simply obscure enough that they might only be digitized if the LOC receives a request to listen to them.
Even for those with a digital copy, preserving the originals as long as possible is still important. "It's not impossible that the digitized version might disappear, might get corrupted, or might become inaccessible 10 to 20 years from now," Davis said. "If you have that physical object, that's always something you can come back and re-listen to, or reprocess, if the need arises."
(Score: -1, Offtopic) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday April 28 2020, @10:00AM (1 child)
https://old.reddit.com/r/kimyojong/ [reddit.com]
(Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday April 28 2020, @10:39AM
KIM YO-JONG WILL RISE FROM THE EARTH OUT OF A MOIST LABIA LIKE SHEATH. SHE WILL BE A TOWERING 30 FOOT QUEEN WHO WILL TAKE HER PLACE ON HER BLOODY THRONE, ADORNED WITH THE HEADS OF THOSE WHO FAILED TO SUPPORT HER RULE.
SHE WILL LAY WASTE TO CHINA FIRST BEFORE EXECUTING HER JUDGEMENT ACROSS THE EARTH.
SHE IS THE LIZARD QUEEN.
WHEN YOU HAVE A MOMENT, PRINT OUT A PHOTO OF HERS AND KISS IT DEARLY EVERY NIGHT BEFORE BED.
(Score: 2, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday April 28 2020, @10:49AM (5 children)
Yes, people DID know why it worked and why magnetic tape binder degrades over time.
Ampex had a patent on tape baking already in the 70's.
I'd like to see a real paper on what real experiments LoC conducted and what historical research they knew about.
(Score: 2, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday April 28 2020, @11:07AM
https://listserv.loc.gov/cgi-bin/wa?A2=ARSCLIST;d144d59c.2004 [loc.gov]
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday April 28 2020, @12:30PM (2 children)
This is 2020, you've got to keep up with the latest in scientific methodology. They didn't do experiments, they built a model fitting data until the subject under examination met their expectations.
(Score: 2, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday April 28 2020, @04:50PM (1 child)
Dude that was early 2020, we're now in mid-2020 and we inject lysol for everything now. It'd be interesting to check that. You're going to have to use scientits but it sounds interesting to me so it gets instant Federal funding. But the whole concept of the light, the way it goes in one minute, that's pretty powerful.
(Score: 4, Funny) by edIII on Tuesday April 28 2020, @09:00PM
Well that's one to get interest back into STEM
Technically, lunchtime is at any moment. It's just a wave function.
(Score: 2) by driverless on Tuesday April 28 2020, @01:33PM
Interesting effect. When my friends get baked it generally renders them more incomprehensible, not less.
(Score: 2) by JoeMerchant on Tuesday April 28 2020, @12:43PM (8 children)
For the good of obscurity, someone should systematically request to listen to all the tapes in the archive.
Semi related: I requested a semi-obscure book from my county library, it took them 6 weeks to "get it in" and when it arrived it was brand new, I guess in some cases they purchase and/or print on demand.
🌻🌻 [google.com]
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday April 28 2020, @01:29PM (3 children)
I love that print on demand is a thing in this day and age.
(Score: 3, Funny) by DannyB on Tuesday April 28 2020, @04:51PM
If it has an API, I can see someone innovative creating a cloud site: Kill Trees On Demand In The Clod!
When trying to solve a problem don't ask who suffers from the problem, ask who profits from the problem.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by anubi on Wednesday April 29 2020, @01:13AM (1 child)
I found out about " print on demand" a few years ago when I ordered some really obscure books on analog oscillator design. I was pleasantly surprised the book I got was brand new; I did not think there was any way I was going to see this old genius's design notes.
Someone cared enough to save it. He had spent an enormous amount of time designing extremely low phase noise oscillators. He is gone but his work lives on.
"Prove all things; hold fast that which is good." [KJV: I Thessalonians 5:21]
(Score: 2) by VLM on Wednesday April 29 2020, @04:52PM
Hajimiri's "famous" $200 textbook? He's not that old and AFAIK not that dead either... Hope he's not dead he's younger than me, I think. I'm moderately intrigued who the author could be.
I always meant to expense account Hajimiri's book but have not gotten around to it.
(Score: 3, Funny) by DannyB on Tuesday April 28 2020, @04:52PM (3 children)
Convert all the audio tapes to digital format.
mp3
for good quality kick the bit rate up to 96 kbps.
When trying to solve a problem don't ask who suffers from the problem, ask who profits from the problem.
(Score: 1) by anubi on Wednesday April 29 2020, @01:54AM
If we make it Public Domain, the Good Stuff will be with us forever. The works of the Masters will not fade into Oblivion. The works of Mozart and Beethoven will live as long as people are here who value their contributions. DRM will only sentence the work to encrypted oblivion. As have so many softwares before them .
"Prove all things; hold fast that which is good." [KJV: I Thessalonians 5:21]
(Score: 2, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday April 29 2020, @08:53AM (1 child)
Always use FLAC for remastering, which is essentially what they are doing. Mp3 is lossy.
(Score: 2) by DannyB on Wednesday April 29 2020, @02:35PM
I didn't use no-sarcasm tags.
When trying to solve a problem don't ask who suffers from the problem, ask who profits from the problem.
(Score: 2) by edIII on Tuesday April 28 2020, @09:02PM
There is no "why", and it is not "here". As for the link, I don't know how far the rabbit hole I have to go down to find out "how it works".
I'm still left with the question unanswered :)
Technically, lunchtime is at any moment. It's just a wave function.