I wrote recently (at http://eogn.com/wp/?p=21422) about the life expectancy of CD, DVD, and Blu-Ray disks. At best, all of today's factory-produced disks only last a few years. Even worse, the disks that you "burn" in your home computer may only last a year or two. To be sure, these aren't average numbers. They are "worst case" scenarios. While the averages are higher, how do you identify in advance the disks that will be on the low side of average?
One proposed solution is to write your data to the so-called "thousand year disks" offered by Millenniata. I wrote about those several years ago at http://goo.gl/Vfj0w. Now a new product has been announced that will last even longer: a million-year disk. That should be long enough for most of us.
Using such exotic components isn't cheap: the prototype cost about $30,000 to make. That price will come down if these become available in quantities but will probably never be described as "cheap."
"Playback" should be simple if all you need is a microscope. However, I wonder what language should be used for recording the information. Which languages will survive for a million years?
You can read more at http://goo.gl/A4kFm.
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