why

The Dilemma of Modern Media graph from Preservation in the Digital World by Paul Conway, Head of Preservation Department, Yale University Library, March 1996

Archives not only contain records of products/ideas/objects that have become obsolete over time, but are also acutely demonstrative of the very essence of obsolescence. This graph shows that while the quantity of information being saved has increased exponentially from the age of clay tablets and parchment scripts, the durability of media has decreased almost as dramatically. There is information within our archives stored on media such as floppy disk/VHS/magnetic tape/compact cassette/hard drives, and in time the hardware needed to read these electronic/digital/optical formats will become obsolete. 

Digital technology - based on incredibly precise mathematical coding - either works perfectly or doesn't work at all. "If you go beyond the limits of the error rate, the screen goes black and the audio goes to nothing," Mayn said, "and up to that point, you don't realize there are any errors. Analog technology" - used in vinyl records or electromagnetic tapes - "deteriorates more gracefully. The old wax cylinders of the original Edison phonograph sound faded and scratchy, but that are still audible." Mayn picked up some tiny plastic digital audiotapes that fit neatly in the palm of his hands. "People love these things because they are so small, compact, and lightweight and store tons of data, but as they put larger and larger amounts of data on smaller and smaller spaces, the technology gets more precise, more complex, and more fragile." He bends the little data tape in his hand. "We have a lot of these from the late 1980s and even the mid-1990s that can't be played at all."

Extract from Are We Losing Our Memory? or The Museum of Obsolete Technology by Alexander Stille
http://www.lostmag.com/issue3/memory.php