Amazingly, no one has mentioned redundancy.  No matter what the media, all have some rate of fallibility.  Always make at least two copies of whatever you intend to archive.

Kodak has made some claims regarding the archive quality of their CD media, check their web site.  I don't recall how long they claim or know how reliable the claim might be.  The real issue with digital media is portability.  Assume you will be migrating your data/images to newer media over time.  The problem is not the so much the media as the availability of hardware/software to read it.  The world of computer hardware technology moves fast.  CD's may be overtaken by DVD soon, and both may succumb to some technology none of us have yet imagined.

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