Abstract
Digital information has a variety of benefits, but long-term digital storage is generally more expensive than analog storage and the risk of information loss can become high. This is known as the “Digital Dilemma.” In this study, we propose an efficient method for long-term digital storage from an economic, practical, and future point of view under the condition of advances made in information technology. We analyze an efficient timed switch from an old medium to a new medium based on the lifecycle of the medium using statistical data. This study focused on memory media and estimated migration timing by proposing four evaluation items, i.e., the cost of digital storage, future of a memory medium, network externality of a memory medium, and decision to purchase based on price fluctuations. The timed switch from the present position to the next position depends on the beneficiaries, and the proposed model reflects their position from the statistical data of floppy disks, optical discs, and flash memory by the quantitative approach. We determined the efficient timed switch from an old medium to a new medium using the proposed method.
