All true except for one thing. DVDs and Blurays are very susceptible to the slightest damage, even invisible damage. Every time I play one, I wonder if it is going to play or hang halfway through. Many also make it hard to actually get to the movie, inserting several minutes worth of various delays.
At least CDs don't have that last problem, just insert and they play. CDs can also be pretty beat up and still play fine.
CDs and DVDs can also be refinished by equipment that grinds down and polishes the plastic, assuming the data layer is intact beneath it. This cannot be done with Blu-ray media, because of the altered surface chemistry.
From my understanding, CDs are actually quite prone to damage because the layer that stores the data is actually on the "label" side of the CD. Anything that damages the label can also damage the data layer just underneath.
DVDs moved the data layer into the middle - sandwiched between two layers of plastic, Blu-rays move it to the surface opposite the label, but add a protective coating to try to keep it from getting damaged[1]. I think DVDs are actually the least prone to permanent damage from scratches because of their sandwich structure - surface scratches can often be buffed out. However all 3 can also progressively rust if damage exposes the recording layer to air[2].
Yeah my experience with physical media from the cassette age to now is that CDs are by far the most finnicky of the physical medias. Any little scratch or gunk leads to skipping and bad playback. I can count on one hand how few DVDs I've seen that had problems, and I've never seen a blu-ray that ever failed to play.
I was archiving / ISO'ing my CDs/DVDs last month. So many of them weren't even recognized as a disk. Many had read errors. The disks were in proper form.
Did the same for my 3.5" floppy disks. None of those had problems
It's important to mention the durability of the medium is very different when you compare writables to pressed, and there's a large variance in quality for writeables, particularly now that lots of old stock (with a history of non-favourable storage conditions) is intemixed with demand being low.
If you really value your data, use archive disks. They are costly, but they will actually reach their rated lifespan, often of 50-100 years.
You should note that if you were using Windows 10, it sometimes has problems with old CD-ROMs. If you rip the disk, it reads fine, but Windows Explorer doesn't understand the filesystem and reports the disk as a DVD-R or something
I have over 1000 DVDs. The vast majority I bought used. They're a lot more durable in my experience, as long as you don't abuse them. Slight scratches can be buffed out. Some have a reflective foil layer printed on the "up" side (rather than integrated into the plastic layers), and if you damage that, it's hosed.
Store your DVDs in sleeves or in the original cases, and you shouldn't have any problems. Don't leave them laying around or stack them.
At some point I want to rip all my DVDs and put them on a media server (~4-6TB worth), but it's a serious undertaking.
When my kids were very young, I discovered that they had a talent for destroying DVDs. So I put together a media PC and started ripping. I've had to upgrade the HD a couple of times, but every kid's DVD I ever bought is now available instantly on that PC, and the originals are packed away in boxes where they don't get touched.
Local computer shops might be a place I’d check. I know some places that could put a high schooler after school to work on a simple project like that for a few days.
I calculated that 4 DVDs per hour would take 250 hours....that's several weeks of work. I found a robot that does this, but the company that makes it seems to have gone out of business.
Assuming a single-threaded process with one final destination, sure. If you're just archiving them, a couple cheap-o machines with external SSDs can really crank through the bytes.
1000 dvds is really not such a large number, it will go a lot quicker than you think.
Source: I once made 180(!) copies of a ~400 page document for an event, by using six copy machines and collating from stacks of 30 sheets. I don't remember exactly how long it took, but it was less than 2 full workdays. It's all about the M:N efficiency!
I wish the component players had better read failure programming to overcome those scratches. I have tried finding reviews for the better players with no luck. Using a laptop sometimes handles scratches better.
In my experience, DVD players have gotten steadily more able to deal with damaged discs over the years. But still, if one doesn't play in one player, it might play in another, or maybe a blueray machine will play it. It's not predictable.
Sometimes, washing the disc will get it to play. Sometimes, rubbing a tiny bit of oil (!) on it will get it to play.
In many jurisdictions it's legal to have a digital backup if you own the cd/dvd. So you wouldn't necessarily have to actually use the CD/DVD to play the media.
At least CDs don't have that last problem, just insert and they play. CDs can also be pretty beat up and still play fine.