More than aging recorded CDs/DVDs alone, I see a big problem in disappearing optical drives. There are already often sniffy comments like: “
Who still needs CD/DVD/BD? This is so old and sucks.” and (with proud): “
I have disposed of all my DVDs to free some room!” or “
I don’t have a DVD drive in any computer since 2010.”
This general problem can be found on Wikipedia under the title
Digital obsolescence. The solution of switching to an alternative, more modern, medium is problematic in the case of CD/DVD/BD. There is simply no replacement for the end user (or at least I don’t know about one) which offers a limitation, that can be an advantage: Read-only medium.
- It is not possible to accidentally delete an important file from a DVD-R.
- Ransomware? Nice try.
At the moment getting a brand new DVD drive is easy and costs only about 15€ but this can – and probably will – change. BD drives never got to the point of being dirt cheap.
Optical media will stay a part of my backup/preservation strategy for quite some time.