My mother-in-law just forwarded an article to me titled "Are CD's forever?".
Article: Are CD's Forever? Maybe Not
Defective CD's
The article basically states that experts are finding that CD's are not lasting as long as expected when they came on the market. They were supposed to last a lifetime, but now we are finding that some CD's will not last a this long. A CD could last 5 minutes if you drop it and it breaks or if it is sratched very badly. A CD could last 40+ years if you keep it in it's case and always handle the disc by the edges . . . here is my response to the article:
". . . If you keep your CD's in their cases when not in use and keep them clean, that they will last a long time. CD's last longer and work better than any other medium for music and sound.
Records, when they are new, sound fantastic, but nobody can ignore the fact that they deteriorate and the sound quality gets worse each time you play them. If dust gets on a record, when played it will crackle and pop. Records warp and become unplayable if they get too hot. Old records (pre 1960) become brittle and can break easily(i.e. shatter into many tiny pieces!).
Cassette tapes sound horrible. They sound worse and worse the more times they are played and the older they get. They can be totally destroyed if a cassette player randomly decides to eat them. Cassettes seem to last about 5-15 years, depending how often they are played and how well they are taken care of. After that they are almost worthless (in my opinion), because the sound quality is so poor. Cassettes (also VHS tapes and data tapes) are very sensitive to humidity. If they are not stored properly, they can become moldy and deteriorate in as little as 1 year (I have seen this happen!).
CD's (and DVD's), if well taken care of (stored in a case when not in use, not scratched or handled on the surface, and kept clean), should last AT LEAST 15 - 25 years (in my experience). They will always sound just as good as they did the first time you listened to them.
Consumer recordable CD's (and DVD's) have only been around for maybe 10 years now, so only time will tell how long these will last, but studies have shown that by burning CD's at slower speeds of 2x - 4x, the music/data on the disc is likely to last much longer than burning at higher speeds.
How Permanent is CD-R Media?
When CD's came out, they were supposed to last "forever". Humans are always looking for something that will last forever but, as we know, nothing lasts forever. When you compare CD's to cassette tapes and vinyl records, it is obvious that CD's are the longest lasting medium we have now. CD's last longer and sound infinitely better after a long period of time than do cassettes and vinyl. Until the next big thing comes along, CD's and DVD's are currently the best choice for storing music, video, pictures and data."
