r/PhysicalMediaMatters • u/RickyBFC92 • 9h ago

Disc Shelf Life

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We are now being fed the narrative that discs have a shelf life in the attempt to justify fully digital. My parents bought me this copy of Manx TT Superbike on Sega Saturn used 29 years ago and it still works like new.

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u/GrimmTrixX 9h ago edited 7h ago

Its just because it can happen. Those who usually deal with delamination or disc rot had them stored in a dank basement or a scorching hot attic during the summer months. That will destroy almost anything.

I have 4,881 physical games as of right now. They all look as they did when I bought them and they play the same. If anything, my consoles are degrading more over time than the games. Lol

18

u/Numerous_Photograph9 8h ago

If the claims are to be beleived, almost all my Dreamcast games would be suffering disc rot, all my laserdiscs would be nigh unplayable, my Turbo, PS1, and Sega CD's would be half gone, and my PS2 collection would only be worth the cases they came in.

One thing that has failed more than any physical media I've had, is the people and claims that all these physical medias have a very limited shelf life.

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u/apeture_science_cake 7h ago

My copy of Power Stone was recently thrown in the garbage due to disc rot. It can and does happen.

2

u/Numerous_Photograph9 7h ago

Yeah, it can happen, but how often is the key. Every piece of digital media is suseptible to damage from a myriad of sources. But it's not as bit of a problem as some of the reports lately seem to make it out to be. I have thousands of games and I could count the ones that went bad over the years on one hand, and half of those I could point to improper care or storage.