Archival life of CD / CDR

  • Thread starter Thread starter Jay Bradbury
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Jay Bradbury

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All this technology is GREAT but, Can anyone give me some data on how long these varoius media will last.

I have some 30 year old tapes I would like to copy to archive "for ever" I have heard the following, but would like to confirm:

"for ever" is only:
reel to reel & casette tapes > 30 years?
"pressed" CDs > 30 years ??
CDR > 10 years ??
CDR/W > 10 years ??
MD > 10 Years???

Where can I get more data??

Thanks
Jay
 
Thanks, That Kodak site says that their CD/RW media will last over 100 years at 25 deg C, about 80 deg F , Quite a Kodak moment.
 
I have read that different brands of CDR last for diff. time periods.

Stored in darkness:

Entry level greeny-gold about 25 years
Silver "Data Grade" about 50 years.

Tapes last depending on how much it is played, and how it is stored.

I have read that MD lasts about 100 years

But these may be just advertising slogans.
 
why oh why did they ever do away with vinyl? the cd revolution was just another case of the corpations saying "this is better for you because its cheaper for us". my mother has a few records from around 1905 that can still be played on a victrola. can't say we'd still be able to do that with our cd's in 94 years.

cheers,

stax
 
Sorry, but that argument is ridiculous for most people.

A CD will last it's shelf life regardless of the amount of times it is played. 1000, 2000, 50 000 times.

An LP will not be great sounding after only 15 plays or so, and after 100 plays it will sound crap.

If one stores an LP and NEVER plays it, it will last a long time. But without it being played what good is it?

But LP do melt and warp very easily. My friend carried some with him in his car on a hot day. When he finished driving and went to retrieve them he found that the records were seriously warped by the heat and gravity.
Result: They were garbage.

Add to that the superior sound, and lossless digital dubbing of a CD over 78, and LPs and the format is siply better.

If one is worried, one can always digitally recopy 10-20 CDs on the new high capacity format of 30 years from now without any loss in sound quality at all.

Also that 1905 recording most likely sounds very bad by todays standards. And the physical contact (needle - record)needed to play it, necessarily means that the next play will only be worse.
 
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