Editing ROM image (section)

=== Digital preservation ===

The lifespan of digital media is rarely great. While black-and-white photographs may survive for a century or more, many digital media can become unreadable after only 10 years. This is beginning to become a problem as early computer systems may be presently fifty or sixty years old while early home video consoles may be almost forty years old. Due to this aging, there is a significant worry that many early computer and video games may not survive without being transferred to new media. So, those with an interest in preservation are actively seeking older arcade and video games and attempting to dump them to ROM images. When stored on standardized media such as CD-ROMs and DVD-ROMs, they can be copied to future media with significantly reduced effort.<ref>{{cite journal |journal=Northwestern Journal of Technology and Intellectual Property |last=Conley |first=James |author2=Andros, Ed |author3=Chinai, Priti |author4=Lipkowitz, Elise |author5= Perez, David |title=Use of a Game Over: Emulation and the Video Game Industry, A White Paper |volume=2 |issue=2 |date=Spring 2004 |access-date=2009-05-06 |url=http://www.law.northwestern.edu/journals/njtip/v2/n2/3/ |quote=Fans of classic games argue that emulation preserves video arcade games, many of which would otherwise be approaching extinction.}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=About MAME |work=[[MAME]] |url=http://mamedev.org/about.html |date=2007-11-30 |access-date=2009-05-06 |quote=MAME is strictly a non-profit project. Its main purpose is to be a reference to the inner workings of the emulated arcade machines. This is done both for educational purposes and for preservation purposes, in order to prevent many historical games from disappearing forever once the hardware they run on stops working.}}</ref>

The trend towards mass digital distribution of ROM image files, while potentially damaging to copyright holders, may also have a positive effect on preservation. While over time many original ROM copies of older games may deteriorate, be broken or thrown away, a copy in file form may be distributed throughout the world, allowing games which would otherwise have been lost a greater chance of survival.<ref>{{cite news|work=[[The Hollywood Reporter]] |last=Hyman |first=Paul |date=2004-10-08 |access-date=2009-05-06 |title=Game over? Not if preservationists have their way |url=http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/hr/search/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1000663278 |quote=[T]he archivists feel that the more copyable something is, the more likely it's going to survive in the long term. |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090928102455/http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/hr/search/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1000663278 |archive-date=September 28, 2009 }}</ref>