Dominique Rogers wrote: > > I work as a volunteer in a museum which is planning to store > images of the collection on CD ROM. I am not a computer specialist and > nobody is in the museum. I have been looking at equipment and figured > out that we need on top of what we have already, a) a scanner with > transparencies attachment and that the HP seems to be what we need, and > a CD ROM read write machine, and there is the problem: The HP is around > 1000 and the Yamaha is around 2000 and I cannot figure out the > difference and do not want to ask to dealers as I would like impartial > opinions. Can anybody give me some advice or share their experience on > this process, or tell me if it has been discussed before (I am sure it > has!) how I can access the information. Thank you in advance. > Dominique Rogers > [log in to unmask] Ouch. Prices are quite a bit higher in the UK then in the 'States'. Must be those big wall plugs you use. (;-o). The HP SureStore CD Writer 4020i sells for about $980(US) The literature claims a 74 minute recording time at 150Kb/sec. (consistent with the 660MB capacity) This uses the 650MB disks. These disks cost about $10(US) making CD-ROM a pretty cheap optical medium to store on. Now the obilgatory curmudgeonly warning. Storing images of documents on an electronic media is not a substitute for good old low-acid paper and permanent ink. It is a great distribution media, but not a great archival tool. Unfortunately (or fortunately if you're in my business) electronic storage media are evolving at such a rate that 10 year old media is often quite difficult to use today (have you seen a functional 8" floppy disk drive lately?- how about an in service IBM card punch?). Electronic archival is not a media. It is a process of continually moving information from one format to another over time. Today CD-ROM is one of the most stable media. The data format on it may not be. Just something to think on from the old curmudgeon. -- Andrew J. L. Cary | I Reckon that the Opinions Senior Curmudgeon | expressed here DO represent Cary Consulting Services, Newark, CA | those of the management of [log in to unmask] | Cary Consulting Services