Re: A2 Trade/Swap???? site discovered - What are your thoughts on such a site?

[tturner@ecn.ab.ca ()]

Paul Schlyter (pausch@saafNOSPAM.se) wrote:
: In article <8je59g$7ka$1@nnrp1.deja.com>,  <bobryan9@my-deja.com> wrote:
:  
: > In article <395A91A3.ABF7A1DB@dcnet2000.com>,
: >   Phoenyx <quazar@dcnet2000.com> wrote:
: >> From the info I've gathered. CD-roms last approximately 75 years
: >> and CD-RW media will last 90 to 100 years and up. Rather weird
: >> considering the CD-RW media gets 'melted' during rewrites.
: > 
: > Since it's only been about 20 years since CD was developed, I don't
: > know how anybody can put much faith in any predictions.
: >
: > One major reason CD's will not last very long is that they get
: > scratched and become useless.  I think it's a stupid design, probably
: > endorsed by publishers because once you scratch 'em, you gotta get a
<snip>

--> This partially relates - earlier, someone mentioned that they'd
    seen or recalled info that indicated that CD's would only last 5
    years. I find this really hard to believe; as all the sources I've
    checked (though, admittedly, not recently) indicate a minimum of
    approximately fifty years for CD's/CD-ROMS (dunno 'bout other `CD'
    formats); which is ten times longer (and, makes much more sense,
    AFAICT). My question is - what's the source of this `five year'
    estimate on the life-cycle of a CD? Without such a source for
    verification; I would respectfully suggest that the person that
    is `recalling' that length of time - is mistaken.

    I have CD's from five years ago and NONE of them have any problems,
    whatsoever. I have CD-ROMS from five years ago and NONE of them
    have any problems, whatsoever. Perhaps I take better care of my
    music and data (quite possible, as I still have mint 45s and LPs
    from the 60s). I've had `bad' CDs, LPs, tapes, etc - but they
    were purchased new and were obviously manufacturing flaws/errors.

    My 5.25" diskettes from fifteen years ago are starting to fail
    and that's not surprising (though quite horrifying to me); but
    CDs and CD-ROMS are a reasonably long-lived storage medium;
    though something else will be needed to preserve orphaned system
    software, for the *REALLY* long term (ie: centuries, etc.) and
    the `original' commercially manufactured/produced/sold media;
    is _NOT_ viable for long-term storage. No matter what side of the
    debate one is on; our precious A2 software will not always run
    from original diskettes, so something better, must be utilized.
    (This does not mean that I espouse having A2 software stored
    somewhere else, without having the original media. Nor does it
    mean that I'm against archival or temporary evaluation copies)
--
E.A.G.L.E Librarian A3 BBS:403/481-3133  email:tturner@freenet.edmonton.ab.ca