Do Burned CDs Have a Short Life Span?

[HAN]

Add me to the list that magnetic tape is NOT the thing to use to long-term archive important data. While the underlying mylar ribbon, the binder and the magnetic particles themselves have improved over the years, if it's not stored under very optimal conditions (temp and humidity), it can go bad rather quickly. Just look up some horror stories from the audio industry and read how some tapes must be (literally) baked in an oven to give one last playback...before they are permanently unplayable.

Now I am no expert... just a regular user. But knowing what I know about magnetic media (DLT tapes, 1 million passes. Yeah right!), I would feel better about optical media over the long haul.

Oh, and as said above, having 2 copies of the same data would be a good idea too. And NO RW media!

**EDIT Spelling!