The cheap and ubiquitous USB capture devices are generally terrible. I wonder if a Retrotink 5x / 4K and an HDMI capture box is the way to go to properly preserve some of this stuff, at least in a semi amateur capacity.

I found that the VHS and SVHS capture in particular was pretty difficult. Even sourcing good quality SVIDEO cables was harder than I thought. I need to use a contemporary Canopus capture box, but that also meant using a laptop with a FireWire port, and then some software that still worked!

I've also digitized a few off air VHS recordings. That's more fiddly and somewhat unsatisfying in terms of cataloging in a way to store, access and playback. Plex for example isn't great for things that don't cleanly fit into their library structure.

I have digitized a fair few tapes. Prerecorded music cassettes. Many are albums that exist on streaming services, but I've dumped all those now. Some are obscureish 90s magazine freebies. Incredibly many of them still sound very good. Got a cheap Nakamichi deck off eBay which probably helps.

The track by ELLiS·D has a fake ending - just in case you jump to the natural conclusion that I have messed up in the editing of the show.

Interesting coincidence! After a discussion over tea tonight with our boys about Iceland the shop trying to copyright the name Iceland, I ending up educating them about the "I hate Iceland" guy. 15 years ago next month. Never forget.

It has no redeeming features whatsoever. It is a masterclass in appalling UX design, with side orders of incompetent rollout and corporate failure.