by jase on Mon Jan 06, 2003 12:25 pm
Write speed can and does affect shelf life, yes. At higher speeds, the number of errors (which are masked when you play the CD back, and are normally nothing to worry about) tend to be higher than at slower speeds, and the pits are often less-well formed at higher speeds due to the laser having less time to form them as it's writing, and also the positioning of the data on the disc can be less well-defined.
All these things lead to the possibility of any further destructive influences on the disc doing more damage than they would otherwise have done.
I would say that using high-grade media (Taiyo Yuden, Mitsui etc) and recopying the data every couple of years is the only way to be reasonably sure of retaining your data. CD is not the invincible format Philips and Sony claimed is was -- even original CDs rot away after 10 years or so in many cases.
