OK, let me qualify: Vinyl (when played on commodity equipment) does, almost unavoidably, suffer mild (or worse) analog degradation. This is why (if you're of a certain age) you'll recall that for high-value purchases, we usually made cold replicas (uh, "tapes") to insure that the "master" got played as infrequently as possible.
CDs, however, not only degrade spontaneously (even when stored "properly"), but the degradation is pretty much "either-or" -- when they do degrade, usually the whole thing is pretty much unplayable (unless you're putting it in a very expensive player).
In any case, from my own extensive experience over the years, item for item, I've had quite a few vinyl records suffer "moderate" deterioration (aftr heavy playing), but virtually all were still playable to some degree. Really - unless you leave them in the back of your car for too long, that's usually the worst that happens.
Meanwhile, an annoyingly high % if CDs simply get scuffed, or are left out in the air too long -- and end up irreparably damaged and unplayable (at least on generic players).
Other than some exceptionally rare examples of "bit rot" where errors in manufacturing cause the chemical composition of the plastics prematurely deteriorate, a compact disc will survive at least 50 if not 100 or more years, even with the most exceptionally modest storage and handling conditions.
A scuffed CD is often perfectly playable, and can otherwise be polished back to near-perfect playability with toothpaste and/or ultra-fine sandpapers.
OK, let me qualify: Vinyl (when played on commodity equipment) does, almost unavoidably, suffer mild (or worse) analog degradation. This is why (if you're of a certain age) you'll recall that for high-value purchases, we usually made cold replicas (uh, "tapes") to insure that the "master" got played as infrequently as possible.
CDs, however, not only degrade spontaneously (even when stored "properly"), but the degradation is pretty much "either-or" -- when they do degrade, usually the whole thing is pretty much unplayable (unless you're putting it in a very expensive player).
In any case, from my own extensive experience over the years, item for item, I've had quite a few vinyl records suffer "moderate" deterioration (aftr heavy playing), but virtually all were still playable to some degree. Really - unless you leave them in the back of your car for too long, that's usually the worst that happens.
Meanwhile, an annoyingly high % if CDs simply get scuffed, or are left out in the air too long -- and end up irreparably damaged and unplayable (at least on generic players).