I think CDs are still a very good option when you think about how you intend to maintain your digital collection in the next 30 years.
CDs I bought in the early 90s are there, in a box. I'd like to see people's iTunes collections in 30 years...
Yes, I know that CDs have a shelf-life and that real long term storage would involve backing them up. But CDs still seem a better option than the current alternatives.
Edit:
The issue even with a DRM-free local iTunes library is: how are people going to keep that over 30 years?
If you have a CD you only need to have a CD/DVD/Bluray player, which are still ubiquitous, and to push a button.
But for a local iTunes library you need IT admin skills to manage it, to back it up, to transfer it from one machine to the next, perhaps to understand that you can access the music without iTunes, etc. The vast majority of the public don't know how to do that.
CDs I bought in the early 90s are there, in a box. I'd like to see people's iTunes collections in 30 years...
Yes, I know that CDs have a shelf-life and that real long term storage would involve backing them up. But CDs still seem a better option than the current alternatives.
Edit:
The issue even with a DRM-free local iTunes library is: how are people going to keep that over 30 years?
If you have a CD you only need to have a CD/DVD/Bluray player, which are still ubiquitous, and to push a button.
But for a local iTunes library you need IT admin skills to manage it, to back it up, to transfer it from one machine to the next, perhaps to understand that you can access the music without iTunes, etc. The vast majority of the public don't know how to do that.