I purchased the MR DVD set with the hope of being able to get rid of 40 years of paper issues. This would mean that I need to make backups of the files and the software to ensure another 40 years of access to the magazine information.
However, the PDFs of the magazine are password protected, and the software won’t successfully install from a hard drive when the DVDs are copied there. The DVDs have a 90 day warranty, and an uncertain shelf life (I’ve heard anywhere from two to 20 years before the substrate degrades and becomes unreadable) and who knows how many years will pass before the software will be incompatible with a newer version of Windows.
If anyone from Kalmbach is reading these posts, is there a way to obtain the password for the PDFs, so I can continue accessing the information twenty years down the road? (I did talk to customer service - they said they didn’t have that information).
If I can’t get access to the PDFs, I’m sending the DVDs back and keeping the paper copies. It’s kind of funny how DRM is keeping me from accessing data I already have and am now paying for a second time.
Regarding DVD life expectancy, a properly pressed commercial CD or DVD that is stored in it’s original case should last as long as you’ll ever need to access it. They’re certainly going to last longer than a hard drive. I’ve been buying music CDs since 1990 and have never had a single one deteriorate. Burnable DVDs and CDs have a shorter lifespan depending on the quality of the media, but name brand discs are good for 20+ years at a minimum. Back in the 1990’s there were problems with “laser rot” on laserdiscs, but those were found to be manufacturing faults and not a flaw in the basic design of the disc.
The software compatibility issue is not the problem it used to be either. PDF is an open standard for document exchange and was designed to share data regardless of the software it was created on, hardware, or operating system concerns.
While nothing is as permanent as paper, I really don’t think it’s a huge cause for concern.
I agree with Milepost 266.2 that the DVD set is going to outlast you or any computer you own today. The biggest threat to them would be changes in computer technology that make DVD disks obsolete.
The first computer I ever owned was a Sinclair ZX-81 that used cassette tapes to store programs and data files, and had a whopping 16K add-on memory module.
Then I advance to an Atari 800 with 5.25 inch single-sided floppy disks. Ultimately my Atari setup was a highly-modified XL with 1 Meg of RAM and an add-on interface with which I could access 3.5-inch floppy disks and a laser printer. Hard drives were still out of the question due to their high cost.
Today’s computer technology is changing almost daily and we may see the time when a DVD reader is no longer available, just like the cassettes, 5.25 inch floppy disks, and 3.5 inch floppy disks of yesteryear. Commercial DVD recordings are pressed on former vinyl record making machines just like the old 45 RPM and 33-1/3 LP records.
But one thing is sure – the DVDs will outlast a hard drive by a long shot. But looking at it from a practical standpoint, how often do you refer to a 50 year-old printed magazine and need to keep them all in storage. Nothing in those old issues is still available and neither are the companies that made products back then.
Handled properly, and stored carefully in their cases, DVDs will last a long time. They are not indestructible as everyone seems to think, but with a little care, they will last a long time.
Their worst enemy is you. Scratches are not a good thing, and these discs are probably dual layer, so not prying them out of the case is important. Prying a dual layer disc out of the case can actually cause the bond to break between the two layers.
I doubt that Kalmbach will be giving away keys to unlock the images any time soon. Doing so would result in their product being on the internet within hours. The actual key may be encoded within the software itself. Who knows? Customer service probably doesn’t know either.
you can view and print the articles as needed and when you install the issues you are going to want on the HDD you can access them with out the DVD in the drive. As for the passwords to allow you to save a copy, they are there to prevent the PDFs from being redistributed over the net and or copied to other media for redistrobution. This is a very common metod of protecting intilectual property and I doubt that Kalmbach is going to freely give them out, and it is possible that the codes are also only known to the publishing editor who gives the final OK for print.