CD-r question

hi, this maybe a very easy question to some.. what is the lifespan of a cd-r? how long does it live? rather how long do the data or files in the cd-r live?

coz i'm in a terrible situation.. i have several vcds that are not working anymore. whenever i played them on my external vcd player the player's screen shows "UN DISC" and other times it shows the total time of the vcd & just does not load or play at all. these vcds were actually bought 3 to 4 years ago (they're still playable 6 months ago); so, i'm just wondering if there is something to do with the lifespan.

though some vcds are still playable but i need to turn-off & on everytime i load a vcd for it to play, otherwise it hungs or just won't play.

and by the way, all these vcds were bought from the same store. the vcds i bought from other stores are still playable & working just fine. Even the vcds i created or burned were all working fine.

anyway, does anybody know why this happened? does it have to do with the quality of the video burned in the vcd? or the type of cd-r used in burning? or the quality or efficiency of the cd writer/burner used? anybody know the reason?

depends. Some low-quality cd-r media s are only good for a couple years (3-10) average. Cheap media use dyes that degrade fairly quickly. High-quality (archival quality) media are rated for ~50-100 years mean lifespan. More likely than not, you don't have archival quality cds, and some of them may be degrading.

Legitimate, stamped cds and dvds are rated at ~100+ years, regardless, because they use a different process than burned stuff that doesn't rely on photosensitive dyes to store the data.

You might want to pick up a lens cleaner for your player, or it could be the player itself degrading. Have you tried on a different player?