The awful truth about CDs, do they have the same shelve life as LP's ?

I have ripped all my CDs to NAS redundant drives (and now wonder what to do with the boxes of CDs I have) and have hit  a double handful or so that won't read in part or in whole.

My sample size is currently 3,679 CDs.

I have to agree with many above.  I recently transferred my entire CD collection which I began in 1985.  Many treated with Armour All and Green marker on the edges!!!  Of the thousand or so CD's, I had trouble transferring exactly 1 track.  And to be fair, I was able to use a different CD drive and get through that one.  It is easily arguable that CDs are not "perfect sound forever", but certainly not gone in 3 decades!

It's quite possible Paul does not.  Sorry Paul.  If there are problems with polycarbonate plastics after 10 years then I suggest we should all think twice about getting in an airplane and driving our cars.

I have see discs that are not properly stored or have been mistreated (where the lacquer layer is compromised) in high humity climates/locations show signs of deterioration.  But like anything that you want to preserve its about storage and care.

The only fault I can find is that Paul may not have done much research, before his daily post. He may have received it from a trusted source.
It is not the first time I had heard about CD rot. But I always figured it had more to do with non audiophiles who don't handle their media with the respect that we do. CDs used in cars, stuck in those visor sleeves, leaving them  laying on the dashboards, exposing them to sun and heat. Oily fingerprints, on both Cds and LPs.
I have great respect for Paul McGowan, they run one the best customer service oriented businesses, I know of. I do believe a player is in the works, but they just recently released a new SACD/CD transport, so he certainly is not telling anyone it is time to move past physical discs .And it does tell you what the problems are. The OP's headline, reads like a tabloid headline, you'd see in a grocery store check out line.I read that post the day it came out, and I didn't find it overly dramatic, the sky wasn't falling.

If you have any CDs or LPs that can't be replaced by downloads or remasters, then it might be wise to make a few safety copies. If you have a decent AD converter, you can digitize LPs that will sound very good. To me it is one those mysteries, why don't commercial CDs sound identical to the master tapes, but I can digitize an LP, that sounds just like that LP, and I can remove the ticks and pops when necessary.

Paul McGowan is certainly not a flake. His enthusiasm is genuine.

jeffstar, if your gear is directed/optimized toward vinyl then most likely you don't even have D/A converter, much less A/D.  In addition nobody would spend money to buy decent A/D converter to digitize all their LPs predicting ahead of time that some might get damaged.  Even if you can copy the music from LP you cannot copy LP itself and many people will tell you that it is not the same.  On the other hand you can even renew scratched CDs by ripping and copying them to CD-Rs - giving them new life.  I have all my CDs on hard drive (+2 backups) and will never loose them.  As for Mr. McGowan - his claims are on the verge of being funny and if he claims that commercial CDs have dye he is uniformed at best.  Enthusiastic uninformed, I agree.