CD-Recordable discs unreadable in less than two years

CDFreaks.com (by way of SlashDot) ^ | 19 August 2003 | Dennis

[Eala]

The Dutch PC-Active magazine has done an extensive CD-R quality test. For the test the magazine has taken a look at the readability of discs, thirty different CD-R brands, that were recorded twenty months ago. The results were quite shocking as a lot of the discs simply couldn't be read anymore:

Roughly translated from Dutch:

The tests showed that a number of CD-Rs had become completely unreadable while others could only be read back partially. Data that was recorded 20 months ago had become unreadable. These included discs of well known and lesser known manufacturers.

It is presumed that CD-Rs are good for at least 10 years. Some manufacturers even claim that their CD-Rs will last up to a century. From our tests it's concluded however that there is a lot of junk on the market. We came across CD-Rs that should never have been released to the market. It's completely unacceptable that CD-Rs become unusable in less than two years.

On the image you can see the exact same CD-R. On the left you see the outcome of our tests done in 2001. On the right you see the same CD-R in 2003. The colours indicate the severeness of the errors in the following order; white, green, yellow and red whereas white indicates that the disc can be read well and red indicates that it cannot be read.

For those of you who are interested, the original Dutch article can be found here and in the September issue of PC-Active. Please discuss this subject in our Media Forum.

[radiohead]

Anybody archiving the Internet??

Actually, yes. You might be interested in the Internet WayBack Machine...

Here's another problem - the government has millions of web pages. When info changes, it is generally not archived. There is no master plan for government-provided Internet information; each agency generally works on its own. Further, most of the web design planning has to do w/the technology and immediate content, not archiving content. The future migration of content across applications is also an issue due to costs.

Some of us academic info science types are looking into these policy issues, but I think we are few and far between. Afterall, most people only want the info when they need it, they don't care about preserving content or preserving the public record over time.

[rwfromkansas]

Is this a joke?

Has anyone experienced this first hand? I was just about ready to do my first "burn" today or tomorrow of music to clear my hard drive. But my goodness, if this is true, that isn't good.

Also I thought about making a video cd of video files, but if they are just going to go "bye-bye" in two years, what is the point?

I thought CD media was supposed to be better than cassette? All my cassettes have last much longer than 2 years. Heck, they are still going strong after a decade.

Surely this study is not real valid?

[rwfromkansas]

What brands do you get?

Thanks for countering the hype. I thought this article was BS.

[rwfromkansas]

Possibly you could convert it.

Technology is coming out where you can do that by saving VHS onto dvd.

Probably that would happen with CD's, though not for sure...past mediums have not always had something to conver them over.

[ampat]

Couldn't find the cause anywhere. Is the loss of readability due to wear and tear of use, or just time?

[stands2reason]

Have you read A Canticle for Leibowitz? It's about monks in the 25th and 30th centuries. Post-apocalyptic, it was written in 1960, but still relevant today....

[rwfromkansas]

Not really. We still will have books to pass on to future generations.

[stands2reason]

Love your tagline....one of my favorite truisms.

[rwfromkansas]

Wow. Impressive!

What would it take to solve the problem so that future generations could read our stuff. The historians trying to study us 1000 years from now will no doubt be clueless as to what to do with material stored on our computers (if our computers are working then, which is not likely). And of course, our CD's will be long dead.

[stands2reason]

No. Have you read "A Canticle for Leibowitz"?

[FreedomCalls]

My first tape recorded was a Beta. I should drag it out and check it out. Circa 1976. Yes, I still have a Beta machine too.

Sony 3/4" U-matic is the only way to go.

[rwfromkansas]

If you play them for every day in those 15 years, you might have a problem. But possibly not even then.

That said, CD's are not CD'Rs. CD's have "pits" and high spots into the disk that last a lot longer than the CD's "emulation" of that. I don't recall what CD-R's actually do (though I learned it just earlier this year in computer class, but my memory sucks). However, it is not near as "strong" as what you get when you buy a music CD.

[rwfromkansas]

Have you put your DVD's on computer or anything?

[rwfromkansas]

They were still recording on beta when I visited a tv station in Wichita. They said they liked it a heck of a lot better than any other tape recording methods, but are now gettign ready to switch to digital.

[rwfromkansas]

If you play it several times a month for 5 years, will they be bad by then?

How can you tell if it is a high quality CD-R?

[rwfromkansas]

Incredible website!

Check out how FR used to look.

[rwfromkansas]

Well good grief, half the sites I looked for are blocked.

This isn't much help if the site owners can block access.

[RadioAstronomer]

No. Have you read "A Canticle for Leibowitz"?

Indeed I have :-)

[rwfromkansas]

oops.

[Joe Bonforte]

What brands do you get?

Sony, Maxell, Fujifilm, and Imation (which is made by Kodak).