How permanent is a CD-ROM??

[Jones, Brian Dr]

The problem with "permanence" is that the CD is just a medium for a digital
signal.  Without a "reader" and a powered-up computer it is useless
(Californians may appreciate the problem).  With a paper copy, provided the
medium lasts (ie properly made) it will be immediately readable with a life
of thousands of years (well some of us may just have to look at the pictures
:-)).

At the moment Bill Gates reigns supreme, but it was not always so.  How many
remember Amstrad and Commodore computers storing information on audio tape
drives (The tapes and the drives still exist - but not the computer
operating system)?  Silly example? Think how much data was entrusted to IBM
punch cards in the 1960's and 1970's ?  Admittedly most of the important
stuff was backed off, but occasionally old boxes turn up that have been
missed - and are now just junk.  The CD will remain until a better
technology appears which suits the mass entertainment market - then it will
fade into history like the old 78 record (which had a longer commercial life
than any computer media thus far).  And, since most of us thoughtlessly use
cheap CD-RW disks for sending data about (and desktop publishing), they will
literally fade away too.

Where is your permanence then? Is your time frame 20 years or 2 millennia?

Dr Brian Jones
Senior  Fish Pathologist, Fisheries WA, Adjunct Professor, Muresk Institute
C/o Animal Health Labs, 3 Baron-Hay Court, South Perth WA 6151, AUSTRALIA
phone +61-8-9368-3649 fax +61-8-9474-1881

> ----------
> From:         christian thompson[SMTP:cthompson at SEL.BARC.USDA.GOV]
> Reply To:     christian thompson
> Sent:         Tuesday, 13 February 2001 12:29
> To:   TAXACOM at USOBI.ORG
> Subject:      How permanent is a
Dr Brian Jones
Senior  Fish Pathologist, Fisheries WA, Adjunct Professor, Muresk Institute
C/o Animal Health Labs, 3 Baron-Hay Court, South Perth WA 6151, AUSTRALIA
phone +61-8-9368-3649 fax +61-8-9474-1881

> ----------
> From:         christian thompson[SMTP:cthompson at SEL.BARC.USDA.GOV]
> Reply To:     christian thompson
> Sent:         Tuesday, 13 February 2001 12:29
> To:   TAXACOM at USOBI.ORG
> Subject:      How permanent is a CD-ROM??
>
> Michael Frankis asked the question: How permanent is a CD-ROM??
>
> There are two answers.
>
> One of which he alluded to, that is, for how long will there be machines
> capable of reading CD-ROM.  The answer is obviously dependent on two
> point:
> Technology and Importance of content.  On the technology CDROM will
> probably
> have a long life as the new formats are using the same physical shape,
> size,
> etc., and the read head is only getting smaller and more precise, etc.
> That
> is, the beam used to read a CDROM is just much broader than the one used
> to
> read a DVD.  And the new experimental disks uses an ever finer beam. So, a
> more advanced reader can always be programmed to read an older disk with
> larger "holes."  As to the importance of content, if there is a large mass
> of valueable material on older CDROMs, then future readers will be
> programmed to read them as well as the newer disk formats, such as today's
> DVD.
>
> The second question is how long will CD-ROM last?  Well, if properly cared
> for, probably as long as paper has. That is, the "stamped" type of CDROM,
> not the dye-based ones that one write with their computer.  Yes, it is
> known
> that you subject a CDROM to high heat or water, etc., they will fail.  So,
> does paper.
>
> But what happens with the medium fails?  What are they doing with old
> books
> with poor quality paper? The current option many libraries use is to move
> the content to newer digital media!
>
> In short, I strongly believe CDROM is a good medium to use, in fact, the
> only real archive medium now readily available for digital content.  And I
> strongly suspect when that medium fails in the future, we will have
> created
> enough content of value to society that it will be converted to what ever
> the newest and best medium is.
>
> Paper is wonderful. And I love my old books; but if the systematics
> community is going to meet E. O. Wilson's challenge for documenting life
> on
> earth in the NEAR future, then we will have to accept the best digital
> media
> available. To me that today is the World-Wide-Web and CDROM in
> combination.
> Paper is too costly, too slow to produce, etc.
>
> F. Christian Thompson
> Systematic Entomology Lab., ARS, USDA
> Smithsonian Institution
> Washington, D. C. 20560-0169
> (202) 382-1800 voice
> (202) 786-9422 FAX
> cthompso at sel.barc.usda.gov
> visit our Diptera site at www.diptera.org
>