said by amungus :

Yes, indeed they do. CD-Rs might last a few years, they might last 50, it depends on their quality. Most that are made in Taiwan these days, for instance, are about the lowest quality that allows for them to even work... I'd be surprised if those last five years.

Factory discs are supposed to endure for ~100 years in proper conditions.

Vinyl trumps all (storage time, sound quality, and full size art), however, and is still my preferred format

said by tdouglas22 :

What a lot of people don't understand is that the "average consumer" is perfectly fine with the current quality of MP3 and MP4 recordings. That's why they are still selling so well now and piracy is showing no signs of slowing down.