First of all, I CAN NOT figure out how to go through the archives now. I apologize if this thread was out there recently, I don’t remember seeing it though. Tuba, how do I search the archives?
Okay, enough qualifiers. What is the expected life span of a compact disc? Be it music or data. Forget totally scratching the plastic shell around the aluminum disk, we all know that scratches will deflect the laser, and render it a trivet forever.
I mean, playability? I am arguing with someone who claims that compact disks can be played on a regular basis for up to 50 years. While in theory, it sounds splendid, I do remember now and then reading that CD’s are actually more fragile a medium than originally thought. DO lasers eventually “wear down” the pits and whatnot that make up the information stamped into a disc? Do they literally wear out, a la vinyl in the golden age of Ortofon cartridges and such?
Let’s say, I play “The Yes Album” once a day. ( This could very well be the case here…). Will it wear out in a year or two?? Forget the concept of CD as storage of digial media, you can store a shitload of date on a Terabyte disk, and there it will sit…and sit…
So. Anyone have the Straight Dope? Am I really wearing out my CD of “The Yes Album” by overplaying it???
There was a thread on this a couple of months ago. But the search engine appears to be down now.
Lasers do not wear out the pits, but other factors can affect a disk. CDs haven’t been around long enough to measure lifetime directly. The most interest in lifetime is, of course, directed towards CD-ROM and otehr methods of data storage (lots of people want to know how long their data will last). How Long do Digital Storage Materials Last? indicates that your CD-ROMs are almost guaranteed to last five years and very likely to last 50 years if treated reasonably well. Since audio CDs are not as finicky as CD-ROM, a 50+ year lifetime for audio CDs is not unreasonable.
Last I heard, the techs were gonna load the archives in any day now. I need to ask them what’s going on with that; it may have gotten dropped down the list of Things To Do.
The search engine does work (that is, if the information you’re looking for is on site ), but it’s incredibly picky.
After working with it for a bit, I have observed that it seems to dislike anything not letters or numbers and it’s case sensitive. Those two things alone are enough to make you think a little bit before you type into the blank.
The good news is that if you can figure out how to give it what it needs, it will usually give you what you want. It’s just figuring that part out that makes it annoying.
Yep this topic has been covered before. Since search is goobered up, I am sure people understand
Anyhow, I have read that most CDs be they data or multi media have a life span of 20-30 years.
I wish I could give you a link and if I think about it later I will look for the article that stated this.
The reason this sticks out in my mind was the thought I had of many people who are putting pictures on CDs now. Not only will technology be so different but also the fact that treasured pictures of that child may not survive like good old fashioned photos do.
I work in a recording studio, and the company that supplies our gold master CD-R’s claims they will last 75-80 years if kept in the proper environment.
Obviously, the ones that are used for mass production are not as high quality, but it’s a point of reference anyway.
Does anybody remember when music CDs first became popular, and ‘they’ were saying they were so much better than records or tapes, because the music would stay perfect, basically, forever.
What a joke that turned out to be. With normal wear and tear of playing them, taking them different places, in and out of the CD case, etc., they may last longer than records or tapes did, but not drastically longer.
In some theoretical place where the CD just rested in a playing device and was never removed, I suppose the life would be much much longer, as it’s only a beam of light hitting the disc, not a record needle or a tape head.
I’ve heard up to estimates of 80yrs, which makes a lot of sense. Oxidation of the CD takes a very long time and there is no wear done on the CD when its being played, unlike vinyl records and tapes.
I would think that CDs would last quite a while if treated properly, i.e. handling them as one would handle albums. If you toss them around like frisbees or don’t keep them in the jewel cases, then they’ll get scratched and die on you, not unlike albums.
FYI I have standard cassettes that are 22 years old, they are a bit muffled but still very playable. I have a few VHS tapes that are 18 years old and still watchable.
), but it’s incredibly picky.