CD and DVD Longevity: How Long Will They Last?

[Audioholics]

In the early ‘90s when the first CD-R disc was introduced manufacturers said the media had a data life in excess of 40 years. In the late 90s when the first DVD-R discs appeared on the scene, producers proclaimed a data life of at least 100 years. Throughout that time and even today the press will "discover" that the media is susceptible to CD or DVD rot that will eat your information – audio, video or data – in as little as two years after it is written. So what's the real deal and how do you prolong the life of your media? Read on to find out...

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[Rob Babcock]

This is a topic I've been beating the drum about for the last few years. I polled the membership at AC concerning their experiences with longevity not only of CD-Rs, but pressed CDs. I've seen an alarming amount of disc failures/pinholing of discs; given the rosy claims of "perfect sound forever," I was dismayed to see a lot of failures inside of 20 years.

Worse, the cheapest brands of CD-R will fade in just a few years. Many of my first audio-only Memorex blanks have become completely unplayable in less than 5 years despite being reasonably stored and cared for.

Most of the material I've read indicates that Pthalocyanine dyes (like those used by Mitsui) will withstand fading due to light far longer than the Azo or Cyanine dies used in cheaper media. I now use mostly Mitsui CD-Rs due to fact that accelerated aging tests seem to indicate a potential life of over a century, and the fact that the US Library of Congress uses them exclusively. Of course, aging tests can't account for the "X factor", but all we can do is use the best discs, store & handle them carefully and check them frequently.

I feel sorry for those who copied all their CDs & sold the originals!

 

[Jessjosh]

Life of CDs and DVDs

I have been buying CDs for 21 years and not even one, as far as I can hear, is damaged in any way. I do play the early CDs (from 1983 on) and if anything, they sound better now (probably due to my better equipment). I finally bought a DVD player a few weeks ago and I hope the DVDs also will last for many many years.

JJ

 

[Rob Babcock]

Take some of your older ones out of the case & hold them up to a strong light. See if there's any pinholing. The vast majority of my CDs look okay, but some are riddled with pinholes. I've done this with other peoples CDs, too, and found an alarming amount of holes. Now this isn't necessarily audible at all, but over time the holes will get bigger & bigger until they consume the redundant areas of the discs & lead to dropouts or unplayable sections.

I have a couple extremely bad ones that I'm purposefully studying over the course of years to see how bad they get. It'll be interesting to see how long it takes before the thing won't play at all.

Sorry, this all relates to pressed CDs, which isn't the topic. But I am interested to see how other peoples CD-Rs are holding up. As I said, a lot of my old Memorex discs are unplayable now, as are some TDK & Maxells. Even some of my Sony discs that are only 2 years old are bad, although those are discs I've carried in the car.