Longevity of DVD-R and CD-R (Was MagTapes)

[Scott Stevens]

On Tue, 15 Mar 2005 00:27:12 GMT
Philip Pemberton <philpem at dsl.pipex.com> wrote:

> . . . I had a CMC-made "unbranded" blank that
> delaminated in a 24x CD-ROM drive, taking the drive on a one-way trip
> to silicon heaven. Truly awful discs.
> 

Sometimes I wonder if the high-speed CD-ROM drives we all enjoy now are
always as good as they're thought to be.  I remember my first experience
with a > 4x drive.  I was used to the older drives which spin slower,
and the new fast drive 'spun up' like there was a big noisy machine
(there was) inside the PC Case.   Perhaps there should be effort spent
on a more reliable grade of CD-ROM technology that emphasizes
reliability and long term life over rip-roaring speed.  I can't help but
think that spinning your important archival CDs at a 2x reading speed
would be easier on them than the screaming fast rate most are read at
now.

Would the CMC-made "unbranded" blank have delaminated in a 2x drive? 
Probably not.  Not that the particular CMC media should be 'championed'
in any way, but spinning things faster is bound to accelerate
deterioriation.