Dick,
Of course you're technically correct about the life span of a Cd. Those
who attended my little digital clinic last year in Mich. were briefed on
that very thing. However, in my case just the weight of those magazines
will sink my home further in the mud! ha Also in the South, mold is
prevalent in storage areas, making stacks of old magazines not only
problematic but unhealthy.
I've attended several seminars regarding the life of a CD and DVD
disks. What what I'm told if you use gold CD's the life span of the
disk itself should be well over 100 years. The problem is that 'home
burned' Cd's and DVD's might develop 'drop outs' where data will
eventually be lost. In my business I have had commercially made CD's
from a lab, and about 700+ that I've made myself. So far I've
experienced no loss of data and some of those disc are approaching 10
years. Again, in my business we are supposed to archive all our work on
both CD/DVD's, and double backup hardrives as necessary. Well that's
as much as a collection of brass engines so that's not going to happen
to a 1971 issue of MR!
In those same seminars we were also told that the DVD will be phased out
long before the typical CD, so I professionally use CD's for all but the
largest projects.
Of course, the best way to solve this problem would be a virtual
archiving, where for a small payment, one could search past publications
and download the plans and articles as needed. I just don't see that
happening like the I-pods and MP-3 folks are doing with the multi
million dollar music business.
I can't speak about how long a CD drive will remain in the future
computers, but I'm betting I won't have to worry about it.
Bob Werre
Richard Karnes wrote:
> All --
>
> Re converting your magazines to CDs -- If you do this, be careful what
> you're letting yourself in for. The average life of a CD (the length
> of time it remains "readable") can be as little as four years. No
> matter what electronic media upon which you choose to record, you are
> faced with the certainty of periodic checking and
> recopying/refreshing. On top of that, you have the ever-accelerating
> pace of electronic technology development. How long will it be before
> CDs are obsolete, and you won't be able to find a device that will
> read them anymore? in 2012 your old Windows Vista PC will no longer be
> functional. Remember 8-track tapes? Punch cards? 5-1/4" floppy disks?
> You can use these only in museums. As any archaeologist can tell you,
> quality paper can last forever. (Well, at least for your lifetime.)
>
>
>
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
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