ruk.blog

I checked my New York Times online issue this weekend faithfully, and was happy to see home movies the topic of an article by Alina Tugend.  Happy also to see that she illuminated the frustrations that families must go through when they try to convert home movies to DVDs themselves.  She shared with readers her personal “technological impatience” and lack of desire to add another machine to her house.  Most customers are like Alina, it seems – not everyone is a do-it-yourselfer.   Simplicity is key.

After talking to a couple of experts, she was enlightened about how labor-intensive the transfer process is, sitting down in front of a video that’s 3 hours long, for example.  Sure, you can walk away from it and leave it “running,” but if something goes wrong, you’re not there to handle it.  The long-form video also takes up quite a bit of hard drive.  Suddenly the process that the equipment manufacturers promote as “extremely easy” isn’t quite that easy or much fun, either.

We see all of that here at iMemories.  Our customers bring or send in film and videotapes that are dusty, unlabeled,and unorganized.  And like the New York Times writer, they’re always relieved to find out that yes, there is a service that will organize it for them and tell them exactly what’s on those old images, with no hassle for the customer, no extra equipment to buy.  Some of them have tried to do it themselves and after spending a lot of time and money, realized a service would have been a better answer.  Others know right away that a service solution is best for them.

It’s great to see yet another article point out the hassles of DIY and the benefits of using a service.   But how much better it would be if they provided a comprehensive list of those services.  The reporters and writers would do their readers a great service if—after pointing out the problem — they went an extra step and referenced some of the companies that help families transfer and enjoy their old home movies.  Maybe they’re too impatient to do the research?