The Bhaktivedanta Archives | Collections: Audio Progress

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The Bhaktivedanta Archives Has Released Original Audio of His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada for 1977.

In our continued commitment to make all the recorded material of His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada available, the Bhaktivedanta Archives is presenting original audio for 1977 (387 files, 237 hours).

The 1977 transcriptions have been reverified against the original audio and will be released simultaneously with the VedaBase® update 2012.1. You can also obtain an “Archival copy” of the original 1977 audio (MP3). Krishna.com will make these audio files available on a flash-drive along with PDF transcription texts that also contain imbedded audio for a nominal fee plus shipping and handling. Prabhupadavani.org will host streaming audio for on-line listening along with transcription texts. The 1977 audio files can also be downloaded individually. There is no cost to download these single files.

What is an “Archival copy ”?
The MP3 “Archival copy ” is a direct facsimile of the original recording with very minor, if any, audio quality enhancements that may remove or reduce artificially induced sounds such as 50-60Hz hum, excessive tape hiss, and in extreme cases, the raising of volumes for those recordings made at very low levels. These ARE NOT sonically cleaned up, edited and packaged “for sale” recordings like the previous Ministry releases, but reflect the “as is ” nature of the both good and poor original recordings.

Why “MP3 ”?
Digital files are useless if they cannot be accessed now and in the future. Therefore, in order for the general devotee community to act as a backup for this audio (secondary preservation), the digital files must be in a common format. MP3 is the most universal consumer-compressed format which is easily readable. The original lossless WAV (broadcast) files, along with the cassette and reels, will always remain at the Bhaktivedanta Archives as the source of reference.