How long do CD's last?

No Worries · 12-25-2009, 04:22 PM

I was going to make a CD of some of my favorite songs for a friend. I got out a CD of Springsteen's "The River", a copy I had made in December, 1999 from a friend's prerecorded CD. It worked fine for years, but I hadn't played it in a long time. I burned it on a Memorex CD-R Recordable 74 minute premium CD. When I put it in my computer, it registered as nothing on it.

I tried it in my stereo system CD, and two portable players. All showed the CD as blank. I stored the CD in a dark, cool room. I googled it and found out that re-recordable CD's only last a year. But that regular burned CD's should last several decades. I remember seeing cheap CD's with no name so it was hard to tell which side was playable. But this was a premium CD. It's still in the original CD container. (Remember when recordable CD's each came in their own container?) It says that it could write at 8X speed. Could it have been written too slow?

I checked two other older CD's that I had copied over a decade ago, and they too were both blank. Maybe the dye went bad, but they were never exposed to sunlight, heat, or high humidity. I have cassettes that I recorded over three decades ago that still sound fine. It just pisses me off with the short life-span.

12-25-2009, 04:22 PM	#1
No Worries Keyboard Racer Join Date: Feb 2008 Location: Mile High City Moto: Old Superbikes Posts: 1,016	How long do CD's last? I was going to make a CD of some of my favorite songs for a friend. I got out a CD of Springsteen's "The River", a copy I had made in December, 1999 from a friend's prerecorded CD. It worked fine for years, but I hadn't played it in a long time. I burned it on a Memorex CD-R Recordable 74 minute premium CD. When I put it in my computer, it registered as nothing on it. I tried it in my stereo system CD, and two portable players. All showed the CD as blank. I stored the CD in a dark, cool room. I googled it and found out that re-recordable CD's only last a year. But that regular burned CD's should last several decades. I remember seeing cheap CD's with no name so it was hard to tell which side was playable. But this was a premium CD. It's still in the original CD container. (Remember when recordable CD's each came in their own container?) It says that it could write at 8X speed. Could it have been written too slow? I checked two other older CD's that I had copied over a decade ago, and they too were both blank. Maybe the dye went bad, but they were never exposed to sunlight, heat, or high humidity. I have cassettes that I recorded over three decades ago that still sound fine. It just pisses me off with the short life-span.