telecine transfer, i think it's called. you need an 8mm projector with a lens that will let it project on to a "full frame" semi-opaque screen about 12-24" away, and then you use a digital camera to record the other side of the screen. Audio can be passed straight through to a recorder or PC.

I have an epson photograph scanner, i bought it in lieu of a flatbed because i had around 12,000 photographs to scan, and scanning the prints seemed to be easier than the negatives. Negative scanners (not flatbed) are expensive and had poor reviews around the internet when i looked. I originally experimented with scanning both the photos and the negatives with a flatbed, but the amount of work to get individual images was crazy. The little epson scanner is so easy to use that my wife took over and scanned and "named/dated" all the resultant digital images.

I've mentioned this a few times, but no one has offered to let us scan their old photos. Maybe i should put a flyer up somewhere.

I found a service, on amazon of all places, to do a film-to-digital conversion. I thought it was worth the money, and they sent back the original media and all that. In better shape than I sent it, actually--I was charged 3 bucks for a repair to a VHS tape, which was transferred flawlessly.