One of the major concerns for the early adopters of the new media technolog
ies is how to safeguard their investments in the face of rapid technologica
l change. In this paper, we argue that technological change and the ensuing
problems are a well-known issue in databases, and that the multimedia indu
stry can benefit from lessons learned in database technology. Moreover, we
argue that meta-translation, a specific approach to software interoperation
that has been developed in the context of heterogeneous databases, may als
o be useful in multimedia applications, particularly in converting propriet
ary annotation and indexing schemes into emerging or existing standards, su
ch as MPEG-7. This technology automates the construction of conversion tool
s significantly, thus reducing the cost of migration and interoperation. Be
ginning with a discussion of architectural aspects of multimedia systems an
d a summary of relevant interoperation standards, the paper proceeds to des
cribe and then to assess meta-translation as an approach and technology in
this context.