I have a question about digitally archiving

ones collection by scanning and burning to disks.
is this wisdom or folly? what are the pros and cons?

I'm not sure if this is the right forum but the moderator has not gotten back to me yet. if it's the wrong place I assume the thread gets moved.

As part of a learning task I scanned 5 of my decks, each scan of the same 5 cards (all the aces, all the 2's, etc). I printed them out, and then I moved them off my computer to a private album at Webshots. If I'm working at the computer I can whip into the webshots albums and really see them big, if I'm studying at the table I can pull out my printed scans.

They have helped me grow my knowledge immeasurably, but the time dedicated to doing it was considerable, so unless someone has a reason for scanning I can't see the benefit. What was your purpose in thinking about doing this?

hello Authenticjoy
thanks for responding

first of all, it would provide easier access to my card collection which is considerable, not as tremendous as some people's collections here (mind boggling), but it's not just a few decks that I can pulll out of the drawer in 2 seconds. so like you, I would like to have instant access for study.

I also have some old OOP cards and valuable signed decks that I don't like to handle a lot, for instance the old Hoi Polloi (not so valuable but still oop), was not printed on good stock to begin with and feels a bit dry and fragile even though it's coated, but even the coating is thin.
Even currently available editions from Il Meneghello, I handle minimally because they're uncoated and would smudge easily. I am tired of washing my hands constantly. I feel like a surgeon.

I want to store my images on my computer, not remotely. better still burn them on to CD's.

I didn't think about printing them, that's another thought (and more money).

to be honest, I don't have a lot of in depth knowledge of scanners. do you find it neccessary to correct the images in a editor or are the scanned images reasonably useable as is.

Thanks

It took a cartridge of color ink to print all 78 pages with 5 cards each.
That is an investment of $$'s in addition to the time, and I only scanned mine at 75dpi, and printed on normal copy paper. Were I a 'real' scholar, they would have needed to be scanned at 200dip I think, and printed on photo paper, in order to see the smallest of details.

For my use what I did was perfect. When the day comes and my progress comes to fine inspection, I'll get a jewelers lopue or really good magnifier and use the cards themselves.

For your use of delicate or rare cards your reasoning sounds excellent.

I did not use an editor, altho I have 3 different ones as I use them all the time for my business. Here is a sample of two scans. For my use they are fine. Seeing different decks display the same cards can really bring home certain truths of a card. This is much easier than sorting for a card in different decks.

You could save your collection to disks.

You could also save your decks into Orphalese Tarot software and use them with great ease and flexibility. Orphalese allows you to create your own spreads, save readings and many other things.

There are several threads here about it but I think the webpage is www.orphalese.com. There is a minimal cost for the software. I use mine most days.

thanks so much for your input, it's greatly appreciated.

I don't think I'll be buying a printer. I don't want to spend more than I have to. and those color cartridges are so damned expensive.
Maybe, I'd rather put a little more money into a better scanner and leave it at that.
but even with the more recently published cards, this saves wear and tear.

this would easily be a labor of love for me because I enjoy doing this, I would probably end up playing with the images in a editor anyway. in the dark ages of personal computing I used to play a lot with fractal programs, 3-D rendering and editors but the processing time was so agonizing I couldn't deal with it. it was hideous. now all that has changed.

I don't recognize the card in the lower right hand corner. which deck is that from?

Northwind said:

You could save your collection to disks.

You could also save your decks into Orphalese Tarot software and use them with great ease and flexibility. Orphalese allows you to create your own spreads, save readings and many other things.

There are several threads here about it but I think the webpage is www.orphalese.com. There is a minimal cost for the software. I use mine most days.

Click to expand...

yes I think disks will be the way to go ultimately in additon to storing them locally on my HD.

I've heard about Orphalese, but I don't know much about it.

I'm very old fashioned and classic in that sense. I don't want readings using computer software. it will not happen. I love technology but this is where I draw the line. HAL will die a second death if he tries anything with me
LOL

If I can use Orphalese to store and record "manual" readings that might be worth looking into. can it do that and does it give you a graphic display of a physical layout? and with notes? that would be excellent

Orphalese is not Mac OS X friendly I just remembered. I have a Windows machine also but I prefer to have evrything housed on my Mac. we'll have to think about this Orphalese thing and do more research.

This site has a lot of scans - not the best quality, a little light, but faster than scanning them all yourself.

http://taroteca.multiply.com/

I'm kinda interested in Orphalese - -can- you put manual readings into it? I'm not into computer-generated readings, I like to handle the cards. But I'd like to be able to keep track of my readings without having to photograph them or write them down.

cheers
Euri

edited to add... argh, just read the OSX bit.... so frustrating.....

hi Euripedes

thanks for that link. amazing, really.

I'm going to check out the orphalese for my Windows machine and see if it's worth the trouble. don't know why they never saw fit to port it over to the Mac.
maybe since Apple is now using Intel chips it will be easier for them to do so.

oooooh just remembered Apple might be releasing their new line soon with the dual boot capability.

I think I will save my money and wait, then I can have the best of both worlds in one.

I simply adore my Orphalese for comparing cards, like you have scanned. Orphalesed isn't that canned reading trinket, that you can find on the internet. In fact you can input your own personal interps for the cards.

Another benny of the Orphalese when comparing decks, is you can enlarge them to any size you want! Providing the orginal scan isn't tiny, you can see the details perfectly!

Its a heck of a lot cheaper than all the work you are doing! Wow! I'm impressed.

Barb