Date: Sat, 13 Apr 2002 22:34:42 -0400
From: Ted White <tedwhite at compusnet.com>
To: WSFA members <WSFAlist at keithlynch.net>
Subject: [WSFA] Re: Netiquette
Reply-To: WSFA members <WSFAlist at keithlynch.net>

Steve Smith wrote:

> [...]
>
> Actually, I've herd that one of the problems that the library types have
> is with old digital formats and media.  How long will 8" floppy disks
> *really* last?  Perhaps more importantly, how long will the drives
> themselves last?  Magnetic tape is an even bigger problem, and I've
> heard that the "expected" lifetime of a normal (aluminum coated) CD is
> only about 10 years.  (CD-R recordable CDs have a much longer expected
> life -- 100-150 years.)

I started buying "normal (aluminum coated) CD"s in 1984.  With the exception of a
couple on RCA Italiana which have turned bronze (but still play as well as ever),
and Brian Wilson's original solo album on Sire which has lots of pinholes through
which you can see light (but it too still plays -- and anyway I now have the new
version with the bonus tracks), they all look (and play) exactly like they always
did.   I'd estimate that maybe half my collection of over 5,000 CDs is at least 10
years old.

--Ted White