DVD Yearbooks
Since a yearbook and/or a DVD’s sole purpose is to let your students preserve memories for years to come, a DVD will be obsolete in only a few years. It’s virtually impossible to listen to an 8-Trak Tape, a vinyl record or cassette player today. Even the VHS recorder is almost entirely gone. There are new emerging technologies today that will replace the DVD in the same way. Your students will find it almost impossible to relive their most treasured memories in only a few years. What happens if it gets scratched and no longer works? A printed school yearbook has a shelf life of 120 years.
There are 1,080 hours in the school year and that doesn’t include extracurricular activities. There are also 50 plus classes in most schools today, giving you a potential of over 50,000 hours of content. You can only get 45 minutes to an hour on a DVD. How many events and how many children do you think will not be included on a DVD? Every single student and staff member can be found in the pages of a print school yearbook. Furthermore, when the vast majority of your parents don’t see their child on the DVD they won’t buy it again next year and many of them will want their money back this year.
Do you remember the fun of having all of your friends sign your yearbook with a message dedicated just for you? That is impossible with a DVD.
Online Yearbooks
An emerging trend is to publish an online yearbook. The idea is wonderful but the truth is if these companies go out of business, as so many online companies do, your child’s yearbook is gone forever. These companies must store the online yearbook on a server somewhere and most are using third party servers which require a monthly or annual fee. If these fees are not paid by the online yearbook company then all of the information housed on those servers, ie. your child’s yearbook, is permanently deleted. As we have seen over the last dozen years many online yearbook companies have closed their doors. Over the last two years more have closed their doors than in the previous five years combined. The simple fact that over 95% of businesses close within the first two years is scary enough.
The main reason you purchase the yearbook is for everlasting memories. No online yearbook company can guarantee you’ll be able to view your book next year much less five years from now.
The hard copy school yearbook is still the best choice for all the right reasons. Contact YearbookLife today to get more information on our yearbook specials.