business & rofessional
Saving Memories
Young entrepreneur's business
preserves family memories
stuck on old video tapes.
Chloe Logan
Jewish News Intern
B
en Friedman is working to
preserve memories of people
throughout the community. In
addition to his job as a producer at WDIV
Local 4, Friedman, 24, of West Bloomfield
(soon moving to Detroit) owns Detroit
Video Preservation Company, which does
exactly as the title says.
"The goal of my business is to help
community members protect their video
memories," Friedman said. "Over time,
VHS tapes deteriorate in quality to the
point where all the visual and audio infor-
mation is lost. By converting VHS tapes to
DVDs, the memories are preserved with-
out risk of further quality loss."
Although Friedman has been convert-
ing videotapes for family and friends for a
while, he did not form the business entity
until this summer. "My mother asked me
to convert old family tapes while I was at
U of M," he said. "She said that when we
(her five children) are all grown up, she
wants to be able to rewatch our child-
hoods at any time she pleases. I later
thought how many other mothers might
feel this way — and not even know that
their video memories are destined for
deterioration if left on VHS."
Friedman enjoys the people part of his
business. The $18 per tape charge includes
a pickup and delivery service, so Friedman
is able to interact with his clients in a more
personal way. "Upon delivering the final
DVD product, I am always reminded about
the community value of shared memories,
now ensured for years to come," he said.
Gabe Neistein, 24, of West Bloomfield,
has found how valuable it is to preserve
memories. Neistein, who was Friedman's
first client, had his tapes converted as a
Mother's Day gift. "We had accumulated
so many home movies over the years, but
most of them were on VHS and just decay-
ing in our basement:' he said. "We really
Ben Friedman is out to rescue families' home movies.
needed to convert them to DVDs before
we lost the movies entirely.
"Ben is doing more than just converting
VHS tapes to DVDs," added Neistein. "He's
also preserving your family's memories
and ensuring that they'll last for years to
come'
Roz Blanck of Franklin is also a loyal
customer to Detroit Video Preservation
Company. "I had several videos that I
could not see because we now have DVD
players:' said Blanck.
"Some of them were of my children's
b'nai mitzvah parties, which I wanted to
preserve so I could view occasionally. I
think we need people like Ben in Detroit,
and I hope that my generation and those
older want to and do support those that
are just starting out."
Detroit Video Preservation Company
gives back more to the community than
just memories, though. "Since the need
for this service is so deeply linked with
community, I also thought it would be
appropriate that the community benefit
from the business:' Friedman said. "So, 10
percent goes to Jewish Federation:'
Friedman currently runs this home-
based business by himself, but he has
high hopes for Detroit Video Preservation
Company's future, as well as the Michigan
economy. He is looking to purchase a com-
mercial space in Detroit and hopes that it
grows throughout the Metro Detroit corn-
munity. "It would be great if the business
grew to a point where I could add an addi-
tional job opportunity to the Michigan
market:' he added.
For more information, visit DETvideo.
corn or call (248) 658-8363. I I
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September 15 • 2011
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