I tell all of my clients that the safest place for your physical media is to have it digitized and saved in a
safe, permanent location. For many of us, digitizing the boxes of pictures, slides, tapes and other media is a large, scary project. Doing it yourself can be even more so. When taking on such an important task, consider breaking things down into small pieces so it is easier to accomplish. Once you have decided on more manageable groups of items, the next step is to consider who do you hire to do the digitization? You could do it yourself, but this article will address questions about hiring someone to take care of your memories.
There are several questions that are important to ask when deciding on a company to help with
digitization. I’ll address several in this article with more coming in part 2.
Is the company Trustworthy?
Firstly, is the company trustworthy? These are your family’s treasured memories and you don’t want to send them to just anyone. Make sure that you trust the company that you choose. Look at reviews and choose a company that has a good reputation for doing a good job and serving their customers well.
Where will the Digitization be done?
Along those lines, you should find out where the digitization takes place. Many companies
outsource the processing to other countries. Sending things overseas adds risk and you
might prefer a company closer to home.
Types of items
Another question to ask is what type of items can be digitized. From my experience, there are many different things that people need to have digitized. This includes photos, slides, negatives, all sorts of film, VHS tapes, and even items that are curved or odd-shaped. Can the company handle the assortment of media you need digitized?
Quality
The last thing I’ll address in this article is quality. It is important to find a company that does quality
work. This include things like wearing gloves to avoid fingerprints, wiping down the equipment, and using state-of-the-art, high-quality equipment.
Your Choice
Choosing a company to digitize your photos is an important decision and some research is
recommended before trusting someone with this job. The ideas above should give you a pretty good
idea on how to make that decision. In part 2, I’ll discuss other features digitization companies
might offer to give you access to your media. If you have questions, please feel free to reach out to me!