Hardly news. Sorry for top-posting, Android won't let me quote. There's a bug report on it! <blockquote type="cite">On 26 Jun 2010 07:49, "Basil Chupin" <<a href="mailto:blchupin@iinet.net.au">blchupin@iinet.net.au</a>> wrote: Preserving precious data, such as pictures and home videos, on CDs and DVDs could do more damage than good in the end. That's what the French National Centre for Scientific Research has found out after testing the longevity of the portable media. "We were surprised to see that the lifetime of discs, some of which were designed to last for centuries, actually rarely lasted longer than five to 10 years," said physicist Franck Laloe. "In the most severe cases, which were happily quite rare, the data on some discs lasted just one year," he said. Unlike audio and video tapes that wear out with play, discs are read with a laser so there is no physical contact. However, the surface which contains more than seven miles of data is deteriorating with age. Rest of story: <a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/programmes/click_online/8711747.stm" target="_blank">http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/programmes/click_online/8711747.stm</a> -- Paranoia is simply an optimistic outlook on life. -- sounder mailing list <a href="mailto:sounder@lists.ubuntu.com">sounder@lists.ubuntu.com</a> Modify settings or unsubscribe at: <a href="https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/sounder" target="_blank">https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/sounder</a> </blockquote>