VHS Era Ends

I mean really ends.

Archivists and preservationists are feeling pressed for time as the VHS magnetic tape deadline approaches. Some are calling it the "magnetic media crisis."

15-20 years is all VHS tapes are really expected to be good for. Like all magnets, the strength fades over time, and once enough of the magnetic field fades from a tape, you can't recover the video. Another thing with tapes which isn't usually an issue in the modern digital era is that there is often only one copy of each video.

So a lot of people who want to preserve their video memories made during the 80s and 90s are bringing business to companies that transfer their VHS tapes onto digital formats, which have a much longer shelf-life, and can be saved easily in multiple places and shared.