Those who advocate the use of computerized digital storage as a means
for overcoming degradation of paper rolls might be interested in the
following story in PC World.

http://www.pcworld.com/news/article/0,aid,124312,00.asp

In short, the CD you burn on your home PC relies on changes to a dye to
record the information.  Over time, only two to five years, the dye can
die.  The article recommends magnetic tape as having a storage life of
30 to 100 years.  Who can assure, though, that the equipment to read
old magnetic tapes will be available?  The 100-year-old rolls that we
have in our collections are generally still readable, and in some
instances quite playable.

Peter Neilson

 [ Magnetic tape doesn't last forever, either -- I have several reels
 [ from the 1960s and '70s in which the magnetic coating is crumbling
 [ like my Supertone piano rolls of punched newsprint.  MMDer A. B.
 [ Bonds wrote in 1997, "The analog tapes of recent manufacture can
 [ shed oxide within five years."  See his report at
 [ http://mmd.foxtail.com/archives/Digests/199708/1997.08.01.01.html
 [ -- Robbie