Lifetime of a memory card?

[Redneck]

Does anyone know what the expected or average life time of a memory card is?
What do you do to prevent loss of images due to memory card malfunction?
Do you replace your cards on a regular basis or do you trust them to work forever?
I've never had a problem with any of my cards without even worrying about it, but I'm really not sure if I'm just lucky and I'm thinking of finding a safe strategy to keep it that way.
What's your strategy?

[DougC]

Lexar claims one million images.

[SCone]

Sandisk used to state 1,000,000 hours MTBF... not sure how you calculate hours on the card? But it's along time no matter what. The important thing here is there is a life expectancy and should be treated as such... Always carry extra cards, make back-ups ASAP and stop using the card at the FIRST sign of trouble (or at least put it back for fun time)

[bondarnes]

I know commercial shooters and a few big name wedding photographers that only use a card for a year and then replace it. But they have a tremendous reputation on the line. Out of over a dozen CF cards, I have only had one failure and it was after copying all the images to my computer. It just would never re-format. Kingston sent me a new card to replace it.

[Grummpy1]

The only card I ever had fail was a micro drive. Like an idiot I used it on our first cruise and lost everything on it. I'll never make that mistake again.