With the introduction of the audio CD in 1982, an outcry went through the music world. People feared the demise of natural sound worlds and mourned the loss of the vinyl record experience – including its feel, its egging and crackling. Since then, the religious war over vinyl records, audio CDs and music files has exemplified the unease that accompanies the digitization of cultural assets and cultural creations. For some years now, libraries, archives and museums have been committed to the increasing digitization of the cultural assets they hold in custody. In doing so, they also move in this field of tension between “natural” original and “artificial” reproduction. The lecture will illuminate the purpose, benefits and status, but also the limits of this offensive from the perspective of the Archive of Contemporary History as well as from the point of view of researchers and interested members of the public.