Questions: Tim writes with: Landforms slides from 40 Countries! Well, here is the value of the internet--stumbling on your gorgeous site via an Excite search for information on slide scanners! Plaudits on your work from a fellow graphics-minded geographer (on the physical side) wondering what to do with landforms slides from ~40 countries. D'Lynn Waldron Answers: Dear TM, Thank you for your very kind words. Regarding the slide scanner you should get- it much depends on how much information you want to capture vs how much you want to spend. ... The Olympus is excellent at the price, and very sharp, but it is 24 bits and does not provide the shadow and highlight detail. The resolution should be sufficient for your requirements, especially as it is a very sharp image. Concerning your landforms slides, you should archive them on CD-R, a GOOD QUALITY DISC, and make two copies- one going into a safe-deposit box. Your CD-Rs must be gold, and top coated (the vulnerable part is right under the label.) Kodak and Apogee provide such discs. Kodak discs are very hard to find at retail. Apogee is at http://www.apogee.com Apogee also sells a non-solvent permanent marker that is safe for CD-R's. A solvent marker (if you can smell it, it has solvent) will set off a a chemical reaction that can eventually destroy your data. You must not expose your CD-Rs to sunlight or other sources of ultra-violet light. If you do not already have a CD-R writer, they are getting very cheap. I could not live without mine. I have a 4x because I do a lot of CD-Rs, but a 2x would probably handle your needs. Yamaha makes the best (4x only) and they are now very inexpensive, as well. Look on a site like Price Scan (to link to these cross platform price comparison sites you can go through http://www.deal-mac.com ) Best wishes, Lynn