I personally think that they will last quite some time. I have a few CD's from back in 1995-1996 that were CD-r's and they still play just fine, which makes them 10+ years old, so I'm not buying into the idea that in the near future they won't work. I thought that most CD-R companies claim that they are good for archiving...well, that woundn't hold water if they only lasted 5 years ...right?