Quote:
Originally Posted by Redcard
The problem you have reading digital files a few decades old is similar to the problem we have reading books a few decades old. Materials degrade.
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The real problem is, languages change. This includes computer languages, for a pretty flexible definition of "language." Media changes; there are mission records on magnetic tapes from the Apollo space program that are probably uncrecoverable because nobody has a drive that can read them any more. If they are recovered, it'll cost millions.
However, in the networked 21st century, the actual files are trivial to transfer from one computer to the next as you upgrade. I have stuff from my very first computer, back in the DOS days, on my current computer. And it all works fine, because it's in a format that has survived. Good choices have to be made. (It seems unlikely that either epub or mobi will become unreadable withint our lifetimes, since both are based on HTML.)