A bunch of years back, vinyl records kinda died.

Cassettes took a bite and CDs finished them off. As far as most folks are concerned, the last record was manufactured back in the mid-90s...

But they didn't die, actually... Some people believed that a suitable replacement for vinyl had yet to be invented. Some found utility in vinyl that digital media couldn't provide. And some simply relished the amplified crackle that announced their favorite songs.

A select few people figured out that records weren't hard, or even all that expensive to make, and that many people - not most, but enough - still wanted to buy them. So as the big factories shut down, smaller ones started pressing.

I'll be the first to admit that with one exception, I haven't purchased a record in 15 years or so. I don't own a record player. And although I totally agree that vinyl is much warmer and is much closer to the analog reality of our experience of sound, the rest of that "vinyl sounds better" argument is largely lost on me.

But I kinda love that I can still buy a record. A world where one cannot buy a record is somewhat hard to stomach, if you ask me...

I need records. In fact, I need a world where people still need records.

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I feel the same about Polaroid film. I need a world where some people still need this stuff and where, despite our cleverest and most lauded efforts, no Photoshop filter or expertly manipulated pixel will ever be able to match the simple magic of holding a picture in your hand and watching the chemical process resolve itself before your eyes.

So now, I'm posting this message to mark the occasion as I enter into a new career in a business with which I'm only recently familiar, selling a product that, according to common wisdom, nobody wants any more, but which I believe is vitally important to keep alive.

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As I might have told you at one point or another, I co-founded SavePolaroid.com last year when Polaroid announced the end of film. I tackled the project with every intention that, should the opportunity arise, I would "drop everything I'm doing" and form or join a company to continue producing film for my beloved Polaroid cameras.

As it turns out, my efforts with that project, as well as a number of pestering emails, caught the eye of Dr. Florian Kaps - the proprietor of unsaleable.com, which had been selling Polaroid film and cameras for the past 3 years out of Vienna, Austria. "Doc" (as he is known) flew to NYC, met with me, and left with a handshake deal to partner with me in the formation of not one, but TWO brand new Polaroid-related companies that he had already been hard at work creating.

The first is PolaPremium, a partnership with Polaroid to celebrate Polaroid's amazing history and to provide the public with the last quantities of Polaroid-manufactured film - as well as cameras and other related stuff. Throughout 2009, we will be releasing unique, limited edition and/or scavenged films, refurbished (and some new) cameras, and whatever else we can think up that makes it easier, better, or just plain cooler to shoot that film.

The second company is called Impossible and will begin manufacturing NEW Polaroid-compatible film beginning in 2010. Doc bought the last Polaroid factory in Enschede, Holland - then put the 11 top people from that factory on his payroll, and is currently experimenting with new techniques and sourcing all the materials needed to start up the machines, making an entirely new breed of film types compatible with Polaroid 600, SX-70 and Spectra cameras.

So we are finally off and running here in the U.S., officially beginning operations as the North American partner and distributor for PolaPremium. If things go well over the next few months, we will also be on board to distribute the new "Impossible" film when it starts to come off the presses. I'm also extremely proud to say that my beloved mate, Anne Bowerman, is joining me in this venture and bringing her considerable talents to our team. She and I met largely due to our mutually expressed love of SX-70 cameras, and even though I often scoff at the sappy romanticism that fact conjures for me, it's only too perfect that we are now working together on this project.

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I can't tell you how excited and honored I feel to be even a small part of this process. "Saving Polaroid" was most certainly a grandiose aim. Many would have said, as I said to myself at times, that the effort I put into it was futile at best, and foolish at worst. But optimism is a powerful thing. More than any other single thing, optimism is responsible for the creation of Save Polaroid, PolaPremium and The Impossible Project.

Now I step forward to do my part to try to sell Polaroid film in the worst worldwide economic downturn in living memory, and at a period in time where all things analog are under assault in the name of technological progress, product cycles, and economies of scale.

But I need a world where people still need Polaroids. And I'm going to try to do something about it.

- Dave