>"...It seems like digital technology is driving us backwards in terms
of archival quality." 


Indeed...

Future generations will probably look back at the anomaly of the second
half of the 20th century when there was an amazing visual record of the
western world produced by a general public armed with instamatics and
SLRs - A very different record to the first half of the century where
professional and specialist amateurs determined what was recorded, or
the subsequent century, when digital media might prove to be
particularly ephemeral.

Think of your own photo albums of the last 30 years, and multiply these
by, say 2-300 million, then imagine how much might still be around in
op-shops and attics in a hundred years (despite the concerns of
archivists, Kodacolor prints in a shoe box won't all necessarily
disintegrate after 20 years)

Then consider what might happen to the CDs and hard drives of all the
obsolete computer systems in a hundred years.

That's why I still use my OM1 with colour slides and b&w negative film
for anything I actually want to keep.

I worry though,  looking down the end of the street at the Kodak factory
being demolished