The Revenge of Vinyl!
Which makes CDs like every single other medium you can store information on.
Funny, my LPs are fine.
And - they sound much much better than CDs.
For years in my EE classes, I demonstrated CD vs LP on a very high end system, with audio levels precisely matched using sources that had LP and CD matches. The students were not told which was which - only that they were listening to either source A or source B.
When asked to vote, the LP never ever lost.
And - of course - some students felt that I was trying to fool them.
Oh, the EE class was in digital signal processing....so yes, I know the subject.
The very early CD’s had a problem with self destruct because of some of the ingredients reacting over time.
I’m pretty sure they will last longer than you can find a reader for them.
Voyager carries its message on a gold plated copper disk. Wonder what will remain of the message if it’s ever recovered. Might be misconstrued and start an interstellar war.
I use mine mostly for storing pictures & data. How will they fare in that usage? Are flashdrives better?
dvdisaster http://dvdisaster.net/en/index.html
I tested this free software by writing a full data DVD and then making a 25% backup data file.
I then took the DVD to the workbench and drilled several holes into it.
The software was able to fully recover an image of the DVD.
For important data I recommend two copies of the original data disk stored in different locations and two copies of the recovery data also stored in different locations.
Protecting your important data is not easy, cheap or fun.
But losing that data is even less fun :-(
Large hard drives are getting really cheap so it is a good idea to always buy two identical drives and store the same data on both. It is very unlikely that both drives will ever fail at the same time (Unless you work at the IRS)
Don’t worry... Lois Learner’s email was archive on Compact Disk too.
rock carvings last almost forever.
Longevity starts with the quality of the CD itself and the quality of the burn.
Almost all CDS sold retail are trash made in basements in Taiwan. Brand means nothing as the actual CD vendor changes from batch to batch depending which basement is cheapest that day.
The only really good CDs are made by Taiyo Yuden, but be sure the ones you buy are not counterfit TYs.
I just assumed all of my CD’s were top notch quality. After all, they are delivered in ‘jewel cases’ which we all know to be durable and made with a very high level of craftsmanship.
Strange - after all the ‘high tech’ it may be best, after all, simply to own books.
And how many people are there who don’t leave their CDs in the car all year ‘round?
Many institutions have their archives stored on CDs — but the discs aren't as stable as once thought. There is no average life span for a CD, says preservationist Michele Youket, "because there is no average disc."
Back many years ago, when audio CDs were new and data CDs were just coming in, the buzz was all "indefinite", as though they were eternal.
I talked with Bill Henderson, then the University of Illinois' preservation librarian on that multiple times. He did not buy it.
Deterioration of the reflective layer isn’t the only problem.
The base layer of a CD is made of polycarbonate plastic, something I had assumed would last practically forever — not so. I bought a number of Telarc music CD’s in the late 1980’s. Several of them have completely cracked while sitting in their jewel cases inside a dark record cabinet. My house is air-conditioned year-round, so there are never humidity or temperature extremes.
Meanwhile my vinyl LP’s and shellack 78’s remain good as new.
If you live aboard a boat, forget CDs - the dampness is very destructive.
That and the fact that I had a CD changer I nicknamed "Old Scratchy" are the reasons I got in the habit of copying every CD I bought and only playing the copies in the car.
The only really good CDs are made by Taiyo Yuden, but be sure the ones you buy are not counterfit TYs.
Those are the main blanks I buy for writable media.
Pressed CD = almost forever...
Burned Cds..... Depends onthe dye used...
Compact discs are a godsend to people who live with cats. No more pop ..... pop ..... pop ..... pop as another cat hair gets stitched into soft vinyl grooves.
The Revenge of Vinyl!
CDs and DVDs typically go bad by degradation of the aluminum reflecting layer. Single sided disk allow protection of the layer by the label (paper is not a good barrier material). Double sided disks, on the other hand, have a fairly good barrier to corrosion, since anything corrosive to the aluminum reflector has to get through the plastic outer layer.
Allot of good information posted and some not so good. Check out “archival gold” from Delkin for 300 year archival quality CD’s & DVD’s. They use a 24KT gold layer where other manufacturers use aluminum (the cheapest and most prone to oxidation) and silver (more expensive and less susceptible to oxidation). The major brands today are using silver substrate and dyes that inhibit “rot”. With proper care (shield from ultraviolet light, heat & humidity) the data will last decades. My opinion is based on working in the industry since the late 90’s. Delkin is a competitor of mine but then when you’re selling a Chevy is Mercedes really a competitor? Check out the Delkin website for good G2 on the process of optical media manufacturing.