78's, 45's, LP's, 8-Tracks, Cassettes...

T. Colin Dodd in his article ODF: The inevitable format makes two very important observations...

The original data had been misplaced, and when the huge magnetic tapes
that stored the data were found, they were “in a format so old that the
programmers who knew it had died.”

and...

The tragic sense that would have accompanied the loss of this knowledge is echoed in accounts of the destruction of the Library at Alexandria, and probably why book-burnings are seen as a sure sign that a society is unhealthy

While the title of this post is a bit absurd it points to everyday examples of the same problem. Here are a few more that I have encountered ...

• photographic 'slides' - processed film positives (as opposed to negatives) mounted between two pieces of thin glass, bound with black cloth tape. I don't know of anyone who still has a slide projector let alone one that is robust enough to handle these.
  
  
• Reel-to-reel recordings. The old Wollensak hasn't been seen in ages.
  
  
• Super-8 films - both the editor and the projector are in the same place as the Wollensak
  
  
• Opened a box and discovered ... Punch Cards
  
  
• 3.5" Floppies (1.44M - There are still a large number of these drives around. But...)
  
  
• 5.25" Floppies
  
  
• RLL/MFM Hard disks

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