Intrada Soundtrack Forum

When I am reading Douglass Fake mentioned "Instead of doing what seven year old boys normally do, somehow I was collecting soundtracks...." , I am thinking about to raise this realistic topic , how long can CD be preserved . As collectors , we collected a lot of soundtracks during so many years , they are our gem , not like tape , it is said CD can be kept for 100 years in theory .
Any one can tell from technical side , how long ? And Guys , how you keep your CDs ? I am really afraid of that , one day , when I try to listen to an old soundtrack from my collection , it can not work anymore

Some report says, it will only last for 30 years. Try some old warner albums, see if it's still working.

Anyway, no need to worry. As new format such as SACD, DVD-Audio coming out, a re-release may come out then.

PS: Maybe you won't even listen to your collection many years later.

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More Jerry Goldsmith tracks, please!

I have the original Polydor release of Cocoon, that has to be at least 20-22 years old, and it plays fine.

Some of my other 20 year old cds are the Boston Pops CDs recorded by John Williams and they still work.

I am working on an article about this very topic for the near future. I can tell you that I have asked questions about this issue to FSM (no response), SAE (little feedback), BYU (don't know), Ray F. (don't know), Intrada (no archival paper/ink used because of the small pressing #), Ford T. (no response). I can tell you that the very first two CD's I bought in 1984 no longer play.
Thomas

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"There is a principle which is a bar against all information, which is proof against all arguments and which can not fail to keep a man in everlasting ignorance...that principle is contempt prior to investigation.
Herbert Spencer

The first CDs I ever bought were in 1991 and they still play perfectly. I also have the Telarc 1984 CD "Star Tracks" which still sounds really great, though I dunno if it was the first pressing (used CD when i bought it).

When considering that there are VHS and audio cassettes decades old that still play without trouble, I can't get too worried about CDs. CD-Rs may be another story (which sucks), but factory-pressed CDs should survive just fine.

The fact is nobody really knows. I still have a few CDs that I bought in '84 & they play & look fine (I've never had any CDs go bad). If they're properly manufactured & stored, well who knows? 50 years (more). They'll see me out, thats all I care about.

As a protection, I have my entire collection backed up to my computer's itunes folder, on my ipod, and a separate backup harddrive. So in a a worst case scenario I can restore what might become unplayable. I discovered this the hard way when a CDR became unplayable and I had to retrack down what was on it.

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http://www.gialloradio.com

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"There is a principle which is a bar against all information, which is proof against all arguments and which can not fail to keep a man in everlasting ignorance...that principle is contempt prior to investigation.
Herbert Spencer

_________________
"There is a principle which is a bar against all information, which is proof against all arguments and which can not fail to keep a man in everlasting ignorance...that principle is contempt prior to investigation.
Herbert Spencer