- First on life expectancy. I can still perfectly read 5 year old cdrs. Here the media quality is important. Don’t forget to perform a binary comparison between original data and the backup copy though. And of course a backup copy is a “backup copy” : keep it on a safe place and never use it.
5 years can seem quite short, but my strategy is to copy my backups when a new medium is avalaible. So all my precious cdr have been copied on dvdr. Moreover it’s more pratical.

Now, concerning your printings. Well if you give your digital pics to some professional lab, you’re right : its the best way to enjoy your pictures for years. The machines used are the same which are use for “analog” pictures (mainly from Kodak and Fuji).
If you print them yourself, this is another story. Selfprinted pictures don’t stand time very well ! And if you expose them to the sun… expect them to have a new hue within days. I experienced that.

That said this underlying the importance of having a proper backup strategy is a good thing. With the democratization of digital cameras, a lot of “non-geek” people will experience harddrive failures and live personal drama when loosing all their familly albums.