I think that media degradation is a more serious concern than we all give it credit for. Just look at the comments. Everyone thinks this is a joke. When my grandfather died, we were able to go through his things and we found all of his old pictures. Despite some of them being 100 years old, and despite the fact that there has been multiple generations of media that have come and gone since they were taken, we were all surprisingly still able to process this archaic format of photographic print.
When my great-grandkids unearth my CDs of family pictures in 100 years, will they still be able to read them? Will the CDs (or DVDs) still be readable? Will there be devices to read them?
Personally, I believe that until the fall of mankind, there will ALWAYS be a device that is capable of reading CD/DVD. Those who archived on Jaz drives and SuperDisks might be screwed, but CD/DVD have been standard media for 20+ years. In the future, it might not be a mainstream device that is every computer, but there is just too much media out there to EVER completely stop making some sort of reader. Now, the real question is, how long will YOUR discs last? Will YOUR great-grandkids be able to see our wedding photos, or the pictures of you puking your guts out on your 21st birthday?
You know the nice thing about digital is that it doesn't have to last forever silly boys! Every copy is a clone. Just dupe on a regular basis to whatever is current. As technology marches on this will just get easier.
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I think that media degradation is a more serious concern than we all give it credit for. Just look at the comments. Everyone thinks this is a joke. When my grandfather died, we were able to go through his things and we found all of his old pictures. Despite some of them being 100 years old, and despite the fact that there has been multiple generations of media that have come and gone since they were taken, we were all surprisingly still able to process this archaic format of photographic print.
When my great-grandkids unearth my CDs of family pictures in 100 years, will they still be able to read them? Will the CDs (or DVDs) still be readable? Will there be devices to read them?
Personally, I believe that until the fall of mankind, there will ALWAYS be a device that is capable of reading CD/DVD. Those who archived on Jaz drives and SuperDisks might be screwed, but CD/DVD have been standard media for 20+ years. In the future, it might not be a mainstream device that is every computer, but there is just too much media out there to EVER completely stop making some sort of reader. Now, the real question is, how long will YOUR discs last? Will YOUR great-grandkids be able to see our wedding photos, or the pictures of you puking your guts out on your 21st birthday?
You know the nice thing about digital is that it doesn't have to last forever silly boys! Every copy is a clone. Just dupe on a regular basis to whatever is current. As technology marches on this will just get easier.