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DATA LIFE SPANSince I wrote that recordable CD-ROMs have a certified lifetime of 10 years, readers have asked about other media. According to the National Media Lab (www.nml.org), magnetic tape is good for 5 to 20 years, conventional CDs up to 50 years, and archival microfilm for 200 years. The longevity champ? Print on acid-free paper. It should last 500 years. Print also avoids what University of Michigan data expert John Gray calls ``the problem of unstable technology''--the likelihood that media will outlive the devices that can read them. BY STEPHEN H. WILDSTROM
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Updated June 14, 1997 by bwwebmaster
Copyright 1996, by The McGraw-Hill Companies Inc. All rights reserved.
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