Agreed. An archive where the data is preserved but you have to really work to view things is good, but one where you can just browse is better. Since we don't have to worry about accidental damage caused by people who are just browsing, and people who are just browsing don't limit the ability of a researcher to use other tools, we can both.
Another good example is MIDI. As a browser of MIDI files I just want to hear them play. If I'm researching them, then I'll want to take the time to figure out what hardware and software synthesizers people were actually using when they composed them and listened to them.
Neither use-case impinges on the other, so there's no reason at all to avoid implementing an in-browser MIDI player. Or an in-browser media player that can play nearly everything, in this case.
On the other hand, downloading a 4gb dvd image full of mpeg2 streams is pretty wasteful of bandwidth; if it weren't for the menus and whatnot it'd be better to transcode it to something modern for playback.
Another good example is MIDI. As a browser of MIDI files I just want to hear them play. If I'm researching them, then I'll want to take the time to figure out what hardware and software synthesizers people were actually using when they composed them and listened to them.
Neither use-case impinges on the other, so there's no reason at all to avoid implementing an in-browser MIDI player. Or an in-browser media player that can play nearly everything, in this case.
On the other hand, downloading a 4gb dvd image full of mpeg2 streams is pretty wasteful of bandwidth; if it weren't for the menus and whatnot it'd be better to transcode it to something modern for playback.