Thanks for the Memories

by Carl Glassford

"Thanks for the Memories." I understand that I may not be around to hear those words from those who will long outlive me, but I know someone, someday, will be thanking me for just that reason.

Thanks to Mitsubishi (MKM) for making the Archival Century Discs. These are one of a kind 24-karat gold and real silver layered cds and dvds which are a rare commodity and will allow me to store my lifetime memories for at least the next 50 - 100 years.

Very few people in the entire world even know these discs exist (hel~lo), let alone why they need them. The truth is, ordinary discs we buy in the store are made as cheaply as possible in order to compete in the price wars and keep their costs down.

For more on why cheap discs are so cheap, here's another article I wrote, entitled Ordinary Discs Don't Make the Grade or other articles I've posted on the Century Disc Blog and website.

Remnants of photos, videos, emails, and even cards and letters from past loved ones are important to me. I have boxes (I'm sure we all do) of these memories, photos, home movies, and even letters from loved ones of long ago. Why do I keep all of this "silly" stuff? I guess I'm just sentimental or maybe I appreciate where I've been and am looking forward to where I am going by remembering where I came from.

When I look at the only copy of a photograph our entire family ever had of my Japanese grandfather, I realize that I know very little about that side of my family. He was gone before I was born so I never got to meet him. All I know is what I heard, and that he was all for my father whisking my mother off to a more promising land to start a family. So, here I am (with 5 other siblings).

As I get older, I realize that not everyone is going to be in my life forever, let alone my being around forever. So, I have taken it upon myself to organize and catalog events throughout my life that I will make copies of and pass them along to loved ones once I am gone, maybe sooner.

It takes a lot of time but I do it in spurts. Hopefully it'll get done before my time. Then someone in my family will be able to look at my past and see who I was as opposed to a figment of their imagination.

Since my father's death in 2000, I have developed a totally different view of him as a person than that of when he was alive. We were an estranged pair for many years. Fortunately (for me), I was able to make amends and had a few short years to get to know him as my dad, as a man, and as a friend, before he died.

According to our U.S.Government, namely the Library of Congress and the National Archives, ordinary discs they tested, may not even last a decade. In fact, they believe (based on their tests and studies) that average cds and dvds will be lucky to be around more than 2 - 14 years.

They also state that people who use cds and dvds for recording their data and digital photos "should check these discs at least every two years" to make sure they are still usable. That's nice, but there's no meter on media that indicates that it is about to fail on you. It either works or it doesn't and if you don't have these discs, or don't have additional copies somewhere, you're out of luck. Everything that you thought was on that disc, is not.

I have no doubt this is one of the many reasons people no longer backup their data (digital photos, home movies, manuscripts, etc.) onto discs like they used to. We have come to realize that cds and dvds are not as reliable as we once thought they were.

People rely on their hard drives to store just about everything (especially now that external hard drives are even more affordable). Figuring they won't be that 1 in 5 people who's hard drive fails. Or, maybe they just don't think about it? I am willing to bet that even the above average person (like me) believes that, if they burn something (digital photos, important documents, manuscripts, etc.) to a cd or dvd, that it will be there forever. I never gave it any thought, I honestly thought cds and dvds would last forever, or at least all of my lifetime and then some.

That was until I learned the difference. I'm trying to save you anguish and hours of having to studying this stuff. If you'd like to save your family's legacy or even your own personal history in a digital format for just a few pennies a year for the next 100 or so years, then the Archival Century Disc is the disc for you. Honestly, it's a no-brainer.

These discs, without a doubt, without fail, and with a 100% lifetime money-back guarantee (which no other disc manufacturer in the world gives you), are the discs you have been looking for and until now, probably didn't even know they existed. Now you know.

Read my article Why the Century Disc Became So Important To Me then you'll know why I jumped at the chance to tell the world about these amazing products.

Then hopefully one day, you and/or your family will say
"Thanks for the Memories, Carl."