Topic: Thinking about going mostly digital on wii u.

I already went digital on the games I want to keep. Years from now and Nintendo is still here, we can still download our games digitally since there is already an account system which I assume will get better. For physical discs, if your console dies or your discs breaks you're in luck to find another copy or a console to play it. Nintendo is already going unified OS in their next consoles so I'm guessing you could play old games from older(upcoming) systems on future (succeeding) hardwares.

I've heard many stories about CDs dying because of age, but none of them was first-hand. You are correct in saying that oxygen might kill the layers, but it's never happened to me. I still have a number of records from the 80s (the oldest one must be Bob Dylan's Biography, 1985) and they still play pretty much like they did 20 or 30 years ago.
I guess deterioration because of mishandling, including humidity, is a far worse enemy than natural oxidation. However, modern CD players have a way to correct minor errors in disc reading, so it's very hard to tell to what extent a CD is damaged. Not sure the same applies to videogames though.
My tip would be to start smoking two packets a day, so you won't risk outliving you record/videogame collection.

My comment wasn't a critique of the format, it was an attempt to introduce sanity and perspective. People seem to approach this discussion like they're expecting to play their current consoles for decades to come; there are a variety of reasons why this might not be so and Nintendo's digital solution seems good enough that it's just not worth losing sleep over.

For the record though I've had experience of CDs that quit playing after a decade; they tended to be from indie labels and therefore it might be down to a manufacturing defect, but then my point was that nothing is perfect.

One thing I have discovered is that, if you have kids that use the Wii U regularly, then going all digital may be advantageous to cut down on the chance that discs will be broken/scratched and will no longer work. My kids have been pretty responsible about this but going digital would eliminate that risk.

It's also easier to carry your library with you. I have 20 retail games, 19 indie games, 22 Wii U VC games, 15 Wii Ware games, and 12 Wii VC games all on the HDD or flash storage. I would be hauling a back pack around full of NES, SNES, and N64 cartridges, along with 20 discs and consoles to run all of those older games on the cartridge. Now, compare all that to an HDD that is 4×3×1 in volume, approximately.

I take my Wii U along on vists, occasionally, so it matters that I don't have to carry all that around, aside from the possibility that those other things can break more easily. For the record, I have actually carried around a grip of cartridges and consoles to play them. The VC games are also rendered at 1080p, so they appear better on your HDTV TV, and the audio quality is enhanced on VC, in comparison to the older cartridge format. Sometimes even newer games run better off of the HDD, because the data read is more spontaneous, compared to laser and disc.

Club Nintendo can also offer games as Club Nintendo rewards, because they are digital.

I'm not saying discs are totally useless, either, but there are benefits to digital that physical literally can't provide. Some things are digital, just because of convenience, like Art Academy and the like.

There is no escape

Absolutely. I've noted my partner's kids have been re-purchasing Wii titles that "stopped playing" when they were younger. Especially the under-tens just seem not to have the same regard for stuff that older kids and adults do: not necessarily malicious, but just forgetting to put a game back in a case can have serious consequences if it ends up getting kicked around a hardwood floor or left on a warm amplifier.

I'm hoping most of my Wii library will end up on my hard drive because I can't see why the Wii's first-party library wouldn't be in the eShop at a minimum.

ummmmm....there will always be record of it to re download.