Im serverly under-educated in this field, but to my understanding of the tech involved, yes, its a neccesary evil :\.
Although 1 year sounds a bit odd, People's original nintendo cartidges are just starting to die in the last year or two, and while it may not be up to the same qaulity as nintendo's, one year sounds much too short.
But like i said, i should be wearing a dunce cap when i speak on these matters, so take what i say with a grain of salt good sir
*edit* anyways, just keep back ups of your .savs and your golden, the entire point of these products are so you can back up your game files right
