Depends on what you mean by fragile. CDs are really susceptible to bitrot

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Disc_rot

Archival discs are made with gold backing, which is much more robust than the aluminum reflector used in mass-pressed discs.

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Supernaut 2 days ago | parent | next [-]

> CDs are really susceptible to bitrot

Define "really susceptible"? I've bought hundreds of albums on CD over the last four decades, and only one of them has ever gone bad on me.

The first CD I ever purchased, manufactured in 1990, still sounds as good as the day I bought it.

	▲	MengerSponge 6 hours ago \| parent [-]
		From NIST: One method for determining end of life for a disc is based on the number of errors on a disc before the error correction occurs. The chance of disc failure increases with the number of errors, but it is impossible to define the number of errors in a disc that will absolute- ly cause a performance problem (minor or catastrophic) because it depends on the number of errors left, after error correction, and their distribution within the data. When the number of errors (before error correction) on a disc increases to a certain level, the chance of disc failure, even if small, can be deemed unacceptable and thus signal the disc’s end of life. Manufacturers tend to use this premise to estimate media lon- gevity. They test discs by using accelerated aging methodologies with controlled extreme temperature and humidity influences over a relatively short period of time. However, it is not always clear how a manufacturer interprets its measurements for determining a disc’s end of life. Among the manufacturers that have done testing, there is consensus that, under recommended storage conditions, CD-R, DVD-R, and DVD+R discs should have a life expectancy of 100 to 200 years or more; CD-RW, DVD-RW, DVD+RW, and DVD-RAM discs should have a life expectancy of 25 years or more. Little infor- mation is available for CD-ROM and DVD-ROM discs (including audio and video), resulting in an increased level of uncertainty for their life expectancy. Expectations vary from 20 to 100 years for these discs. https://nvlpubs.nist.gov/nistpubs/legacy/sp/NISTspecialpubli...

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account42 a day ago | parent | prev [-]

IME that's mostly a problem with self-recorded disks while pressed discs are quite durable in practice. Maybe if you keep them in a very humid/hot environment you get different results.

	▲	MengerSponge 6 hours ago \| parent [-]
		The estimated lifespan of pressed discs is less than 100 years. CD-Rs are worse! https://nvlpubs.nist.gov/nistpubs/legacy/sp/NISTspecialpubli...