This week as families gather to give thanks for our many blessings, many of us will be recording the moments with video and audio devices. It’s something that we’ve done for years, but as time goes by, it’s important to remember to transfer these preserved memories into a more current medium. There are services available that can help, and you can even do some conversions inexpensively yourself. I recently did a search for “audio cassette to MP3” to research ways I could convert an interview we recorded of my grandmother on a cassette. I found several articles on the subject, several of them referring to Audacity, a free audio editor. Whatever format you chose to record your memories, now is the time to create back up copies, preferably in multiple formats and stored in various places, so that if one copy is corrupted, others can survive so that future generations can share those wonderful memories. And don’t forget that you can even use your computer or phone to add audio files directly to your trees on Ancestry. Happy Thanksgiving!

Do you have a tip for converting old audio or video recordings? Please share it with us in the Comments section.