Quote:
Originally Posted by silverraven
Just remember, CDs degrade rather quickly. I have had them degrade to be unplayable in a years time. I totally understand the convenience though, I wish they were more reliable.
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You can buy "archive grade" CDs. One brand that I am aware of is Verbatim, but there are others. Just be prepared for sticker shock--they run around $2 apiece. Ouch!
Or, at least, I
think that there are other brands. There were 10 or 15 years ago when I last thought about using archive grade CDs. I just now checked a couple of online computer supplies stores and there weren't all that many options.
I wonder if the quality of ordinary grade CD's has improved over the last decade or so, and that explains the (apparently) reduced number of available archive grade CD's now. Anyway, like another Mobilereader or two who replied to your message, I have never known an ordinary grade CD of mine to degrade to the point of being unusable. To get scratched and be unusable, yes(!); to degrade, no.
You might be interested in knowing this. There is a difference in how the CD's are "burned" by companies producing music and/or audiobook CD's on one hand, and how things are "burned" by us on our personal computers on the other hand. Companies use equipment which creates physical pits in the metal foil beneath the plastic part of the CD to create the string of 0's and 1's making up digital information. Our computers
print (if memory serves me accurately) the 0's and 1's onto the disk; therefore, it is easier for the digital information to be corrupted. The upshot: our commercially-produced CD's will be good for a longer time than our home-produced ones, all other things being equal.