How long is the life of a CD?

Since the optical disk storage technology was successfully developed as a substitute for tape drives in the early 1970s, in just 20 years, local movies based on 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' inspection, these collections finally came to nothing, "said Thomas Flair. 1970 When Japan hosted the Osaka World Expo, there were two "time capsules" buried in the corner of Dabancheng 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, one of the heads of the Fermentation Research Institute, said in an interview: "Our' Time Capsule' project is to see what happened to these objects during the burial of 100 years. When the answer is announced, I may be dead, but future generations will see what can be preserved. " Organizers check the condition of buried objects every 10 years, and then put them into the "time capsule". 1980 put a music CD in it. Twenty years later, when the digger took out the CD and checked it, he found that the CD was no longer working. 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 profession told me that nothing can be done once and for all. The first music CD was listed on 1982, which doomed his life." CD records in the 1980s and DVD movies in the 1990s are all regarded as long-term collections, and they are placed side by side with paper books on the shelves, thinking that they can be kept at home as lifelong collections. 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 of the CD storage era. It is clearly pointed out in the article 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. Germany's annual "New Music Ears" pointed the finger at record companies. In their view, when record companies blindly pursue new storage media, they only use CD technology to pursue the commercial sensation brought by new technology, without considering life. Augustine, an Australian CD collector, said pessimistically, "If in another 50 years, all the information stored in our world will be lost when the original tape storage materials are unusable and all the CDs are out of date." 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 discs can be kept for 50 years, gold discs can be kept for 100 years, and blue discs can also 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 to achieve the encryption effect of the original DVD coding program by chemical means. However, 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. Isn't it enough that tens of billions of CDs and DVDs will fail in the future? "