Bill Creamer said "I have over a hundred 28 year old cd's of music that still play fine and
sound great....  As a result I think the life span that manufacturers claim is way too conservative...."

Bill and I are discussing two very different situations.

While Bill doesn't specify, I will assume he's referring to commercially-produced CD-ROM disks. And it's clear he's talking about audio recordings.

My comments apply to data CDs of various types, produced for and by computers (of many types).

The International Standard for audio CDs (I believe, but am not sure, it's ISO 9660--someone correct me if I'm mistaken) has not significantly changed since the 1970s. One can hardly claim that of the computer hardware and software developed since the 1970s.

In addition, commercially-produced CD-ROM disks are manufactured by a heat press technology that is completely unlike the way data is written to CD-/+Rs and CD-/+RWs.

Furthermore, small amounts of deterioration in audio recordings are generally acceptable to most listeners. Those of us who remember listening to analogue disks (78 rpm, 45 rpm, and 33 rpm) can have hardly forgotten the "click and pop" experience. OTOH, a few scratches or some delamination on a data CD may suffice to make it unusable.

FYI, The National Archives of the United Kingdom strongly advises against storing ANY long-term electronic records on removable media of any sort.

I hear from the popular press that audio CDs are "on the way out", but I still buy them, with a reasonable expectation of playing them for a few more decades. Go Bill!

Fred

---------------------------------
Frederic J. Grevin
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212-312-3903
Vice-President, Records Management
New York City Economic Development Corporation

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