Some people may be surprised by this, but I have been using the same CDs with Big Mavica over and over for the past two years.
Seriously. I use rewritables. Though it’s a little more interesting than you think. I actually have two sets. The set that gets the most use is my “regular” set, that I keep in little jewel cases in the camera bag. These are for regular photo sets. I can carry my regular camera bag with me, and I’m usually moving at my own pace. This is the one I use most often.
Then there’s the other set, which is the “protest” set. These are the ones that I take along when I’m at an event, such as a big demonstraton, when things might get hairy. What’s the difference? Packaging. These CDs live on little tiny spindles rather than in jewel cases. Thus they take up far less space, allowing me to shed the camera bag.
Why do I bring this up? Because I’m just amazed to have been on a single set of CDs for this long. I bought the “protest” set in 2003, but they don’t get that much use. Then I bought the “regular” set in 2004, to replace an older set of discs that started to become unreliable.
Though I think it’s time to replace the “regular” set again, for after two years of constant use, they’re starting to fall apart, as I’ve been getting “Disc error C:13 01” a bit more often lately. That error, by the way, basically means “bad CD”. The “protest” set, getting less use, is still good, though it did have its moment when I tossed a bad CD down onto Connecticut Avenue NW on September 24, discarding it then and there – the only physical remnant of my presence in DC on that day.
And no, I didn’t lose any pictures finding out that the CDs were going bad.
Oh, and DC went really well yesterday, despite some CDs’ starting to go.