As our designated family historian & a genealogist, I've amassed about 70 pictures of 8 generations that are the foundation of our family's history. The oldest has a birth year of 1833. Some are hand enamelled in beautiful colors (Russia). It took many years to gather those pictures including letters to the US War Department. They sent me an 8"x10" picture of great-grandpa in his Civil War uniform that they had in their files along with all his regiment info. He fought with Grant at Shiloh, Vicksburg, Ft. Donelson, and a couple others eventually having his horse shot out from under him (happened often). Bad times for our country. I've gathered pictures from people I've never met living in Siberia, Germany, Scotland, Sweden, and all over the US. Those wonderful people who either knew or knew of my ancestors took the time to write a short note of any info they had about that person's life. It took us several years due to the expense but we've had them all archivally matted & framed. I attached notes on the person's life to the back of each picture. Also on the back I've noted which kid gets that original picture when I die. In the meantime, they hang on our "Rogue's Gallery" wall here in Mystic. Every time the kids and grands are here a few minutes are spent looking at the pictures & teaching the latest generation names & connections. We are a motley group. :) I've got a complicated system for filing thousands of photos, vital record documents, maps, letters, Rutgers University Library research, my own research from study & trips, cemetery excursions, etc. I've written & published (in 1992) an over 800 page book on Mom's genealogy & my photos are filed by reference numbers tied to that book. It was a physical impossibility to give each kid one of everything. So, I made each a large scrapbook from copies of items that seemed best suited to each. I gave them their scrapbooks on their wedding days. Of course, they also each have a copy of the book that contains hundreds of pictures. They each have a copy of my file system for after I'm gone & they have to decide what to do with the book's documentation. I have 37 of those humongeous Rubbermaid tubs stuffed with pictures, immigrations info, citizenship stuff, vital records, etc. The tubs are color coded for each surname. Photos of during the kids' childhood years...I took the easy way out. I presented them each a tub & said, "Have fun! Keep what you wish & you decide what to do with the rest." :) My second genealogy book, "Thunder on the Steppes" has come back from the second edit & I'm waiting for one last 4'x6' genealogical chart from Dr. Pleve in Saratov & then it's ready for publishing. I've been waiting on that darn chart for 10+ years. His wife prepares them in beautiful Russian caligraphy. I've received 6 and this last chart wraps up a huge project. /tricia (who really doesn't want to see more pictures!)

ideefix: i hooked up my vcr to my tv and tivo (i have directv), because when i got directv i knew that i'd want to move some recordings--including a lot of movies on tv--off the tivo to eventually watch on a tv in a different room (i have tivo only on one tv, directv on 2 tvs.) and to make sure i didn't come close to the storage limit on tivo! i figured i would need special equipment. maybe it's not worth it anyway! i'd have to go through maybe 40 videotapes of "Simply Quilts"--each tape holding 6 shows!

Snidely, perhaps I did not clarify my thoughts well enough. I submit that exorbitant pricing, for an inferior product, is a form of immorality. The demand for the type of entertainment created by the film industry is a very shallow form of hero worship. It is manufactured and driven by purposefully-perpetrated cultural cues from a powerful Public Relations empire. An entire era of humans shammed into commercialized hype. It is the power of peer pressure used to enrich a few - to the unconscionable cost of many. If the industry produced entertainment at a reasonable cost, then consumption of the product could be considered a fair exchange. However, aside from the type of mass marketing I described above, and the natural mechanisms relating to assimilation to the group most often felt by overly-trusting and unsophisticated youth who are too immature to have well-developed capacities for good decision making, entertainment offered by 'movies' also includes the expectations of courtship. The entertainment industry panders to, and plays on, the weaknesses of human nature. Urges meant for the up-building acculturation of a the most vulnerable are funneled into financial profit for the most unscrupulous. You appear to be a very fitting example of this unscrupulousness. Above, you recommended that I financially profit off of activities that I condemn. Sorry, but no thank you sir.

Passe, maybe, still worthwhile. Dang right, for me anyway. I use them all the time. One is carried on me most all the time. If I don't make a note of things, I tend to forget. Plus it's handy for price comparisons, remembering in what lot you're car is parked and much more. The Sony is a nice unit but the buttons are small. If that's an issue, the Olympus one linked is much better. Buttons are big and easy to figure out as far as basic record/play functions. I have 2 old Sonys that are quite basic by todays standards but they're so user-friendly, they are advantageous. But they're no longer made. I have a newer Sony that is similar to one linked and I have an Olympus that is very similar to the Sony linked. I don't like that Olympus. I also have an Olympus very similar to the one linked and I like it but it's not used too much. Why do I have so many? I had one I would carry on me for work, I'd leave one in the vehicle and left one next to my chair. Got one for free that I couldn't turn down and I bought one for a gift and it was already one received so I decided to keep it since the old ones were starting to show their wear. Much of your challenge will be whether he's willing to do it and if he is excited about doing it, there won't be much of an issue getting him to use the recorder as long as you have one that's pretty self explanatory. I wanted to do a similar thing when my Dad was alive. Didn't happen. Good luck getting it going.