During a DVD-swaparound in French sem, a number of people reported faulty copies of one movie or another, prompting one classmate to remark that DVD movies only work well for about 25 years or so.
A little digging on
the webbertubes came up with this figure for DVD-RWs, DVD+RWs, and DVD-RAMs - possibly DVD-ROMs as well, depending on environmental and storage conditions. No certainties with DVD-Video, except that data once damaged is forever lost.
I have in my hands a hard cloth-bound, gold-embossed copy of
Parodies and Other Burlesque Pieces
by George Canning George Ellis and John Hookham Frere
edited by Henry Morley, LL.D.
Emeritus Professor of English Language and Literature
University College London
It was published not just by "Routledge," but GEORGE ROUTLEDGE AND SONS. In 1890. Bought by a 25-year-old American in York for eight British pounds in 2011. All 446 pages are barely yellowed, slightly bowed from age, and full of jet black clearly readable type. If I treat it with just a few shreds of common sense, in all likelihood this block of tree parts will outlive me several times over.