A few years back, I did an apples-to-oranges test of an album I had on vinyl and CD. The vinyl version probably sounded better (usual BS about warmth and whatnot) but the CD sounded very, very good and it was way closer than I was expecting. It had been ~15 years since I'd listened to a CD on a real stereo and I'd totally forgotten how good they can sound. I'd certainly been swayed by the vinyl enthusiasts in the interim, too.
The CD was so clean and clear but not in a robotic way. (I don't think this album had fallen victim to the loudness war either, fwiw.) Whereas the record sounded "warm" but also a little muddy and quiet (not in a good way) in comparison. I know there could be any number of reasons for this but that's also part of the problem. Was my setup dialed in and this is how it was supposed to sound? Or, was the table not flat? Was the needle dirty? Was the tracking force off? Yes, it's fun to tweak these variables but ... it's also fun to just listen to music that sounds excellent with zero effort.
I've started buying CDs again (to my spouse's chagrin) and have no regrets. I do need to start ripping them before discrot comes for them. For anyone in the market, library sales are an excellent option to, essentially, buy CDs by the pound. They also often have rare compilations and anthologies that you won't find in thrift stores.
CDs get a bad rep because people incorrectly assume that all digital music is CD quality. CDs are inherently superior to any lossy codec, especially the ones used by streaming services.
Also discrot is only a problem if you don't keep your CDs in a case, or if the case is made entirely of transparent acrylic and you lost the labels and teh little booklet. They're very reliable when properly protected from scratches and radiation.
Disc rot is not a thing for factory pressed CDs, assuming normal storage. Cheap CDRs from ~2000 or so did have the issue. My CDs from the 80s and CDRs from the 90s are working fine.
I don't use my cds too often anymore, but I've got a pressed 2-disc set of the soundtrack from the song remains the same that's became unplayable because the media developed holes.
These were stored in the case in my home, mostly coastal California, no severe environmental conditions.
Disc rot of pressed CDs seems rare, I don't think I've seen it on other discs, but if it happened to me, it's definitely a thing.
I'm sure defective ones exist. For kicks I just opened my first CD, Bryan Adams' Reckless, bought late '84... it's in perfect condition. Put it on, and it sounds great just like the first time.
disc rot is a thing for every disc that's made with aluminum, which is all but a very few super special ones like mobile fidelity sound lab made with gold. Oxygen permeates through both the polycarbonate base and the clear coat top, maybe quickly, maybe slowly, but always.
Sure, I'll buy that: Aluminum and oxygen are great friends that love eachothers' company, and on a long-enough timeline here in Earth's atmosphere they'll always be reunited.
But how does that timeline compare to that of a human? Or even of the compact disc itself (a bit over 42 years old now)?
I mean: At least anecdotally, I have never discovered rot on any of my CDs that did not also have other contributing condition issues. I haven't even experienced the once-reported issues of air-dried, solvent-based (instead of UV-cured) inks. (And although my sample set is not infinite, it is also not particularly small.)
As a laserdisc collector, I am particularly aware of disc rot and in those it is far more present by now. Practically all discs have some level by now even the good ones, and even if they look clean to the eye. There are people that say the same thing there, that there are good discs that don't have rot and bad ones that do. But that is not true, there are only better and worse examples, faster and slower progress.
cds are both younger and built better, so they will not only last to a later absolute date, they will last longer relative to their manufacturing date, but cds have a few other things that mask rot even when it starts, which is both that they are digital and the player has buffering and interpolation, and also that the data format includes redundant data for error correction. (ld is analog and has neither, later better players do add some digital processing but it can't do the kind of good job with a 6mhz analog fm ntsc video signal that a cd player can with a simple audio bitstream)
A cd with the same rot that is visible on a ld (visible in the output not visible to the eye on the physical disc) will appear to play perfectly even in the cheapest junk player.
So, it will take longer, but I see no reason to treat "longer" as "indefinite".
There is no specific time, but it is inevitable and I don't think it's in the 100's of years but in the 10's of years, and the 10's of years, especially when many are already 30 years old, is not very many more 10's of years left.
And if that turns out to be pessimistic and they last another 50 or more? That's just a bonus. Lucky future rippers who get a chance to rip with even better tech later.
Tangentially I do also assume that some day long before the polycarbonate disintigrates, there will be a practical way to read even fully oxidized discs with a different frequency laser or even a camera or microscope-based head, or even a bulk scanner that just rasterizes the whole surface without even bothering to read the track in a spiral until after the fact purely in software.
As time goes on, tools get both better and more accessible, so in 1995 it would not be possible for a person to make their own laser head, but today it probably is, and in only a few more years will just get easier and easier, and probably at a rate that outruns the rate at which the discs fully degrade.
The CD was so clean and clear but not in a robotic way. (I don't think this album had fallen victim to the loudness war either, fwiw.) Whereas the record sounded "warm" but also a little muddy and quiet (not in a good way) in comparison. I know there could be any number of reasons for this but that's also part of the problem. Was my setup dialed in and this is how it was supposed to sound? Or, was the table not flat? Was the needle dirty? Was the tracking force off? Yes, it's fun to tweak these variables but ... it's also fun to just listen to music that sounds excellent with zero effort.
I've started buying CDs again (to my spouse's chagrin) and have no regrets. I do need to start ripping them before discrot comes for them. For anyone in the market, library sales are an excellent option to, essentially, buy CDs by the pound. They also often have rare compilations and anthologies that you won't find in thrift stores.