Over the past 50 years research bodies in Eastern European countries have accumulated significant collections of linguisitic, ethnomusicological and folkloristic audio material which will only survive if transferred into the digital domain in the mid-term.
The Phonogrammarchiv is involved in several such digitisation projects, which have partly been funded from outside.

The paper discusses digitisation projects in Bucharest, Tirana and St. Petersburg, focussing on the structural, technical and conceptual problems of practical implementation and realisation, such as
· assessment of the collection's state of preservation,
· assessment of required and available equipment
· development of a preservation plan, proposing a prioritised sequence of actions, based on different urgencies for different parts of the collection.
· definition of equipment needed (test, analogue, digital) and design of a business plan of investment
· training of the local staff in digital audio archiving techniques and methodology by experts of the Vienna Phonogrammarchiv,
· installation of equipment and initiation of work
· subsequent technical and conceptual support
Furthermore the projects in Tirana and St. Petersburg include the implementation of an open source based database and server system, which can be individually adapted and expanded.