A strategy for longevity through media migration in consumer electronics

The average useful life of consumer products has steadily fallen over the years. This pattern of continuous upgrading exceeds the need to replace worn and broken devices and is driven by an insatiable appetite for new applications and uses. In the case of media access devices, which are a key element in consumer products, new codecs/formats may be introduced that pose a problem for content migration and preservation. This can result in the need to continuously repurchase commercial content. In addition this can pose a problem for access and preservation of user generated content residing on these devices. This paper proposes a strategy for increasing the lifespan of content through a simple migration strategy.