Reclaim Media: Analog-to-Digital Conversion

That fact that Reclaim Media (Booth No. 1093) will be displaying at the CEDIA Expo can be traced back to a severe case of strep throat.

It was back in 1999 when founder Craig Meyer got sick and decided he would spend some time getting his cassettes transferred into digital files. Little did he know how difficult it would be. Ultimately, he decided to launch a company to do it.

Originally called Cassettes2CDs, the company now specializes in complete analog-to-digital conversion of albums and cassettes to CDs and MP3s.

With the motto of "Better Life Though Automation," the Seattle-based company uses 16 turntables running in parallel to offer "10 times faster turnaround than customers expect," according to Ryan Purcell, who runs management and service for the small four-person outfit (which includes a dog named Sarah that acts as the company security guard).

"Right now we are working to make sure our datastream output will work effectively with all the different media servers on the market," says Purcell. "We want to be integrated with all the manufacturers."

The company outputs digital files in various levels of quality, and the output includes digital album art and metadata. It is working on expanding its metadata output to include not just title and track, but also reviews, producer's name, date of release and other information.

Integrators can use Reclaim to convert their clients' analog music in two ways:

1. They can form a direct relationship with Reclaim and ship albums and cassettes directly to them. The company will even supply pre-paid boxes for shipping in some cases.

2. Ripping services like Moondog Digital, MyMusicZoo or Riptopia already farm out analog-to-digital conversions to Reclaim Media. "We are an extension of their service," says Purcell.

The costs for conversions range based on volume, but can be as low as $4.95 per cassette and $9.35 per album.