I was a poster in the original thread refered to by the creator of this thread. I did point out that commercially produced CDs use a stamped foil layer where CD-R/RWs use an ink layer. That is why commercially duplicated CDs outlast CD-R/RWs. Supermediastore is a great source for blank media and accessiories. I had horrible results with Maxell CD-Rs, and have had to burn copies of all of them onto other brands of CD-Rs in order to get my CD players to read them properly. My best results, both with a computer burner and a stand alone recorder, have been with CD-Rs from Taiyo Yuden, Fuji and Phillips. Oddly, Mitsui CD-Rs worked perfectly on my computer and on a Pioneer CD recorder, but had a roughly 30% failure rate on my Marantz CDR-632 recorder. I will again recommend that either the analog source be retained, or that you copy to a fresh CD-R every few years. It takes a few minutes and costs 20 - 50 cents, depending on the media. Remember to date your CD-Rs!
How long will CD-R's & DVD-R's last?
Several days ago a thread was posted, in which the discussion was about how to copy tapes to cd. One of the responders, in a passing comment, mentioned that cd-r's would only last 10 years. This got me to wondering, is this scientific fact, or "audio wives's tales"? I'd be interested to hear about the longevity of recordable media from folks who are in the know on this subject.