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

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.

I'm sure there are a few out there, but it is rare for audiophiles to not own at the very least a CD player, as there is a lot of good music that is not available on vinyl.
Yes, their systems will be optimized for vinyl. On the other hand, there are a lot of audiophiles who don't own turntables.
A very good AD converter can be had for a list price of $399, the HRT Linestreamer+. Go up to $2k and you have multiple choices, including Benchmark and many others.  PS Audio is closing out their current phono stage with built in AD converter for $1k.
I have digitized many of my favorite LPs, for convenience, and to preserve them. It is nice when wanting to play one or two tracks off an album, to just click on a few links, rather than having to cue it up. Of course digital files aren't going to give you the same experience as holding that album cover in your hands. I have vinyl that I purchased over 45 years ago, the records themselves are in mint condition, which I find very impressive, as they have been played on five different turntables with the first two, not being very good. Nobody is using a BSR mini changer and bragging about how great it is. But, surprisingly, those records, are in mint condition. The same can't be said for the covers. Glued seams have come apart, even with careful handling. So those albums have been digitized, and only get played rarely, as the digital copies through a really good DAC, sound good, very good.

As to dyes, I believe he was talking about the labels. There is no standard I am aware of with the materials used, and looking at them, the different textures, and colors, makes me think that some probably have dyes in them.
Read the other posts where they talked of the labels changing color.

When I mentioned enthusiastic, I was referring to new products, and differences that may be much easier to hear on their reference system, than on a mid level or entry level system.

How many people do you know that have A/D converters, just in case?

Hi,

My 2 cents. I have a few commercial CD's from 1985 that developed spots/deterioration in their inner layer(s). I cannot feel then on the outside layer.

The were manufactured in USA by WEA Manufacturing Inc. record label is Elektra/Asylum. 

I keep all my CD's in binders. So far it is a real minority that are damaged like this. My opinion is that it all depends in the quality of the manufacturing.

With CD-R's (mixes), I have several that have gone really bad with time; to the point that I have to throw them away. It probably was the qualityof the CD-R materials back then.   

I had only two of my CD collection "loose" parts of a few tracks. Yup some music disappeared. All the rest are fine.