Old Skool & A New Contest!!

In effectively “reposting” my old “What is Synchronicity” intro, it kinda got me thinking a bit about how much in this little hobby has changed. Back then, DVDs were just starting be talked about as an upcoming technology, everything “consumer level” was still very much VHS (with a little sprinkling of laserdisc for the “enthusiasts”). VHS was convenient, in the sense of being widely available. And since most people didn’t really have their stereos as home theatres per se, it was relatively easy to manually set up a synch. Just pop in your movie, pause it… pop in your CD, pause it… and unpause both.

The manual method pretty much ruled. When it came to creating a digital synch, a lot more was involved. You had to find some way to get the VHS movie into your PC, and then remove its sound. The audio piece was comparatively easy, but even there, it wasn’t quite as easy as it is now. There were still nowhere near the range and breadth of tools for audio conversion that there are now.

Nowadays, the tools for creating digital synchs are readily available. Because of the weak copy protection on DVD, you can easily find both free and paid programs to rip movies from DVDs. Same for CDs, which don’t have any copy protection. And even combining the two, there are many free and paid programs that will let you do just that. And with YouTube and other video sharing sites, you can even easily share clips with friends and strangers.

Not at all like it was. It definitely illustrates how “out of touch” now that reposting is. It really needs updating. In fact, it has started to seem to me like a lot of the Arkive needs updating. It’s a familiar refrain, that I’m a bit behind… so I thought I’d try something different to both involve the community and maybe re-energize myself a bit.

So… a challenge to the community. To help rewrite the definition of Synchronicity, for all those new visitors out there. This will be the Arkive’s new contest.

Details:

• You can use what I reposted as a “seed” if you’d like, or you can come up with your own version.


• Submissions can be in any format, any length, and must be made by April 20th, to arkiver@xnet.com.


• Looking for this to be informative and complete for people new to the hobby, well-written (although I can do some clean-up on a submission that’s got a good core).


• I’ll do 2 runners up and a winner, with prizes (TBD).

Are you up to the challenge?

peace,