Sony DVD RW

Since the early 1970s, optical disk storage technology has been successfully developed as a substitute for tape drives. In just 20 years, CDs and DVDs have replaced tapes and videos as new carriers of music and movies. When the optical disk storage technology entered the commercial application in 1980s, it repeatedly boasted its advantages. Digital technology and long-term storage time have become the reasons for the rapid popularization of optical disk storage technology. "In the memory of ordinary consumers, CDs and DVDs of optical media can be used as collectibles once and for all. But after more than 20 years' test, this once-owned collection has turned into a bubble, "Thomas Flair said.

When Japan hosted the Osaka World Expo in 1970, it buried two "time capsules" in the corner of Osaka City Park, which contained more than 2,000 items collected at that time, not only plant seeds and cloth, but also Panasonic TV sets and iron pots. He Jingchun of the Fermentation Research Institute, one of the leaders of that year, said in an interview: "Our' Time Capsule' plan is to see what happened to these objects during the burial in 100. When the mystery is revealed, I may be dead, but future generations will see what can be preserved. " Organizers check the condition of the buried objects every 10 years, and then put them in the "time capsule". 1980 put a DVD in it. Twenty years later, when the digger took out the DVD and checked it, he found that it was no longer usable.

Folsz, who participated in the design of optical disc storage technology in the early 1970s, said in an interview not long ago: "When we designed the optical disc, we planned that its ultimate life was 1.50 years, but who would have thought that it is now 30 years". Thomas Flair was not surprised. He explained, "My quality inspection major told me that nothing can be done once and for all, and the first DVD was doomed when it went on the market at 1982". CD records in the 1980s and DVD movies in the 1990s are regarded as long-term collections, which are placed side by side with paper books on the shelves. I thought they could stay at home as a lifelong collection. In fact, the problem that threatens the life of the optical disc mainly comes from the polycarbonate resin covered on the surface of the optical disc. Nikkei Science once used a cover article to remind the world of the shelf life in the era of optical disk storage. The article clearly pointed out that the polycarbonate resin thought to be corrosion-resistant failed to meet people's expectations. Although it can't be seen by naked eyes, the slight corrosion on its surface will lead to the loss of data and information.

However, Germany's annual "Ears of New Music" pointed the finger at record companies. In their view, in order to pursue the commercial sensation brought by new technology, the original record company blindly pursued new storage media and used CD technology, without considering the problem of life. Augustine, an Australian DVD collector, said pessimistically, "If in another 50 years, when the original tape storage materials can't be used and the DVDs are out of date, all the stored information in our world will be lost." According to Augustine's thinking, a large number of domestic collections come from pirated CDs and DVDs, which are certainly not as durable as genuine ones. It is conceivable that we may lose half of our data after 30 years without waiting for 50 years.

More dangerous than CD music and DVD movie collection is the popular CD backup industry in recent years. Zhang Xunhui, Chinese Academy of Sciences, told reporters: "Electronic library is the most dangerous user of CD backup technology, and print media such as magazines and newspapers will also suffer greatly, because storing data with CD-R is more corrosive than CD and DVD." But it is quite different from the understanding of CD-R disc manufacturers. Green CD-R can be kept for 50 years, gold CD-R can be kept for 100 years, and blue CD-R can be kept for 70 years. Not long ago, a test in Dutch Pc-Active magazine seemed to prove that CD-R disc manufacturers were lying. The testing of Pc-Active lasted for two years, and 30 different brands of CD-R discs were tested. The test results are shocking. Many CD-R discs cannot be read in less than two years. At the end of the test article, Pc-Active wrote: "It is generally believed that CD-R will be effective for at least 65,438+00 years, and even some manufacturers claim that it can last for a century. But our test results show that they are exaggerating publicity. "

Just when collectors of CD music and DVD movies complained that their collections were running out of time, FlexPlay and Disney "did the opposite" and developed a disposable self-destruct DVD called EZ-D, which can only exist for 48 hours after being exposed to the air in Kaifeng. Disney intends to use this technology in the movie rental market and use chemical methods to realize the encryption effect of the original DVD coding program. But environmentalists reacted violently to the one-time self-destruction DVD and were filled with indignation. Jonina Ayrn held up the slogan "Shameless Disney, don't make wheeled trash cans again" and said, "The stupid businessman has developed another useless disposable product. In the future, tens of billions of CDs and DVDs will not be broken enough for garbage collection? "