Bit Rot

[Gameguy]

You know how much music I buy. A lot of stuff from the 1990s and earlier now has disc rot. Even one CD I bought that was fine experienced rot a few years later, and this is why I now back everything up to FLAC ASAP.

I don't believe I've ever encountered a single console game with disc rot - Sega and Sony's manufacturing plants were pretty good at what they did. However I have found a few PC games that have died due to it.

With early CDs I've heard it could be caused because of the paper insert in the front of the case. The paper can be acidic, when the case is closed it's pressed against the top of the disc and can eventually damage it. Some places say to store CD cases on edge in a bookcase like books instead of flat to prevent the booklet from sagging down onto the disc. I'm not sure how serious this type of problem is though as most CD storage racks seem to store them flat. Newer discs might be better sealed on top too.

I've found a Sega CD game with some pinholes in it, I'm not sure if it got ruined as it still played fine though I never beat the game to make sure(it's that Power Rangers game). I've also found a few PC games like that, I can't really recall coming across too many discs like that but it's not like it only happened once or twice either. I just make sure to check discs before I buy them.

[badinsults]

I've dealt with a few prototypes that clearly were bitrot. They had varying levels of corruption. Not much you can do about it except back things up before it happens.

As for CDs/DVDs, I have never really had too much of an issue. I have some older cds in my collection that skip and stutter, but it could be due to scratches as much as corruption. I'd say that optical media is far more fragile than cartridges (despite issues with contacts), and will have a shorter shelf life. Tis the nature of the beast. Hopefully there will be people keeping backups of everything.