The Lifespan of an LP?

?? I've had a few of them fail for no good reason.

1+ Ralph, I have had plenty of bad CDs.

I'm thinking that the return rate of CDs is probably lower than that of LPs.

In this study they concluded that laminated media like tape and CDs had lifespans that were measured in years and a couple of decades, depending on storage.

It's not clear from the line above exactly what the study concluded about CD lifespan, but if they meant that CDs had a lifespan of 25 years, they were way low.  If CDs from 1996 and before were failing in large numbers we would be hearing a LOT more about it.

I'll certainly never look inside every jewel box(?) to check, but whenever I pull a CD from the shelf to play, the disc is fully laminated. It plays, too...even the more scuffed up ones. 

I'm thinking that the return rate of CDs is probably lower than that of LPs.

Yes- as far as new media is concerned, CDs do just fine.

It's not clear from the line above exactly what the study concluded about CD lifespan, but if they meant that CDs had a lifespan of 25 years, they were way low. If CDs from 1996 and before were failing in large numbers we would be hearing a LOT more about it.

This is entirely reasonable. Of course we are hearing about it but its not been a big deal. I don't recall how they did the aging study but a minor error in that process could throw things by a good number of years. Time will tell; in the meantime the CD seems to be going extinct in favor of more compact storage.

FWIW I had a CD fail or more properly the aluminum started to corrode on the outer edge.  The corrosion was under the label and above the polycarbonate.  Has yet to infringe on any of the music.  It was an early '80s disc as I recall. 

Regards,
barts

I have many LPs that were bought new in the 60’s/70’s. As my system improved over the years I thought that a couple of them had “worn out” and replaced them with modern high-mass “audiophile” pressings, only to find out that in most cases the sound wasn’t improved (in some cases it was worse). My system had just improved to the point where I was hearing the limits of the initial recording/production. So, at least in my experience, vinyl wearing out is not much of a problem.