Age and condition of CDs

[bobvfr]

I am currently ripping all my CD's to .flac, I have got to about 100 so far and just got my first error, the first track on a best of the Doors cd wouldn't rip.

I bought the Philips CD 101 the first week it hit the shops in 1983 I think, I know I was the first one to buy one from the Hi-Fi shop I used in Streatham.

Then I had to spend lots of time and money on bus fares going up to Covent Garden to the only shop that actually sold CD's in London at that time.

Anyway back to the thread, I have to say I have lived in a couple of building sites since owning the CD 101 and had some very drunken and loud parties, not every CD was put back in its case in pristine condition, I know wine and beer spillages have been wiped off with all sorts of clothing items, and I am sure some have been trodden on. For the last 8 years they were all in cardboard boxes in a very damp house in Orkney (About 30ft from the high tide line).

So some of these well abused CD's are now 34 years old and this is my first failure. The rest still sound the same as the day I bought them.

EDIT: I do look after them much better nowadays :-)

[Minstrel SE]

I have hundreds of them and some are twenty five years old with no reported problems so far. I wish I had some of my earliest 198Os cds to test them today but Im pretty sure most of them would be fine if looked after well.

I sold my first batch of cds due to financial problems and a looming bankruptcy. I probably would have kept my first cd player to compare until it was non repairable.

What sums this up for me is I recently brought a bin bag full of used cds home and many of them were scratched to hell. Amazingly I managed to get the ripping data off them with no audible flaws....try that with badly handled vinyl. I chucked some of them but only after getting the data ripped without error correction going crazy

I think people were very harsh on the cd with all the raspberry jam and syrup nonsense.

I did have one game disc that looked fine on the surface but must have been corrupted on the data layer. Its only happened once in over a hundred purchases and it only cost me a couple of quid...shop were messing me about wanting membership for a refund so I chucked it.

I hear about disc rot and degradation so it must happen. So far I have generally been experiencing perfect sound forever :D

[Tim]

I've bought CDs in charity shops that are in dreadful condition, they wouldn't play audibly without skipping and wouldn't rip to FLAC either, with a number of different applications. EAC is often the best with scratched discs.

Solution: a lot of elbow grease and T-Cut (or Brasso) and I've never yet not managed to obtain an error free rip [emoji3]

Often the disc still doesn't play in a CDP, but if it's ripped I don't need it to.

Happy days.

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[Lerxst]

Had some for over 25 yrs. Presto by Rush was my first CD. Had a couple of probs, literally. One I had to buy again, second-hand, the other one was sorted with a mild abrasive (T-Cut I think).

I think their biggest problem is the layers coming apart eventually but not had it yet. "Bit rot" or something

Don't clean them in a circular motion!

[bobvfr]

Been looking through my collection for what I consider my first CD,s, so I just ripped Regatta de Blanc by the Police, I know its an old one as on the back page it has a list off all the A&M CD's available and it's less than 20.

Now playing from my Surface Pro 4 via my Xbox One, the Pioneer receiver and the Tannoy speakers that are only 8 years older than the CD.

[bobvfr]

Clean them, I didn't realise you had to clean them ;-)


Having said that, I have just opened Queen "The works" from 1984 and that one is filthy so it is going for a bath under the cold tap.

[Minstrel SE]

Well you can take them to a game chain store and get them polished on the pro machine for £2. The only reason I use one game shop is they will polish it up for free if the purchase is too marked or wont play...too right they should offer peace of mind as the discs that are traded in are often a disgrace

Not many used cds I chance are worth that. I would just chuck them before spending ages trying to polish them. If it was a beloved cd I would pay that but Ive never damaged one of my cds enough to cause problems

The pro machines polish a tiny surface layer off which is hopefully deeper than the scratches

The bin bag episode was as many as you can pile in for a fiver. I wouldnt normally buy cds at any price with bad marks on them

Im quite a stickler for surface condition and most cds Im really after are bought new. I can pick cds up for 10p 30p etc at charity shops so as long as they are cosmetically good enough I will pick them up.

[Spectral Morn]

Looked after CD should never need cleaned

[Tim]

Clean them, I didn't realise you had to clean them ;-)
You don't 'have to' clean them, only if they don't rip.

Good point too, I should have mentioned that, rub across the CD surface in one direction only, not in circles. Rinse under warm running water, dry with a soft cloth and you're good to go.


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[Tim]

That's not what we're talking about DL, we are talking about ones that don't rip or play, or scratched ones.

Obviously if they are looked after they don't need it. Did you only read half the thread?

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[Spectral Morn]

That's not what we're talking about DL, we are talking about ones that don't rip or play, or scratched ones.

Obviously if they are looked after they don't need it. Did you only read half the thread?

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Yes I read it all. My comment stands.

[Stratmangler]

Obviously if they are looked after they don't need it

I've had brand new ones that won't rip securely.
They get sent back .....

[walpurgis]

I've never cleaned a CD apart from wiping finger marks off.

I do have a few early ones with the 'rust' syndrome, where the cellulose lacquer has oxidised causing discolouration, but they play OK.

[struth]

When in the cd juke box game we had to clean scratched cd's a lot. we found the best thing in the day was liquid brasso. But the cds had a better coating than they have now. Its easy to go too deep and totally screw the cd.
As said you go in one direction centre to outside. then wash and buff. If you look after your cd's you shouldnt need to do anything bar as Geoff says buff the odd fingermark or dust off.

[Ian7633]

I lived on a farm years ago, if we had any CD's that wouldn't cooperate we used to tie them to the shrubs around the garden to stop the deer from eating the plants, worked a treat.

[Tim]

I've had brand new ones that won't rip securely.
They get sent back .....I give up, yes obviously if they're faulty, but jeez that's not my point. I was trying to offer advice for getting old stuff to rip.

I'll get my coat . . .

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[Macca]

But the cds had a better coating than they have now. .
.

You have a source for this? I would have thought they are still made on the same machines. It was a million quid to buy a CD 'pressing' machine back in the 1990s, can't see them being replaced with machines that do a worse job. Can't see why they would need to replace them.

[Stratmangler]

I give up, yes obviously if they're faulty, but jeez that's not my point. I was trying to offer advice for getting old stuff to rip.

I'll get my coat . . .

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The older stuff can be a bit of a crap shoot.
Recently I've been getting a good number of CDs from Music Magpie, and I've had a few problems with CDs classed as being "very good".
Closer inspection of the reflective side of the disc quite often reveals indentations from poor handling by the original owner.
When I get one like this I look to see if they have another, and order that, and so far the 2nd copy has always ripped perfectly.
The faulty copy is always sent back, and I've always been refunded.
Because of this I always give Music Magpie top feedback ratings.

Dirty discs get a wipe over with optical cleaning wipes, which I buy at Lidl.
Most of the wipes get used on my specs, and because they're non scratching they do superbly well on CDs.

[struth]

You have a source for this? I would have thought they are still made on the same machines. It was a million quid to buy a CD 'pressing' machine back in the 1990s, can't see them being replaced with machines that do a worse job. Can't see why they would need to replace them.

the lacquer coatings have changed a fair bit, but in general they are pretty similar otherwise. some old ones the lacquer goes golden. think they were from a British plant. No-one is saying yet just how long they are going to last on average but they wont, as once thought last for centuries. Vinyl will outlast it

[Stratmangler]

think they were from a British plant

Probably PDO in Blackburn.
The plant was set up in 1980, on the old Mullard site, to manufacture laser video discs.
http://www.studio-nibble.com/cd/index.php?title=Blackburn,_England_(PDO)

[Macca]

It was PDO discs that had the problem with degradation aka 'Bronzing'. But that was fixed back in the early 'Nineties. Being a fairly late adopter of CD (bought my first one around 1996) I don't have any like that.

[Theadmans]

I have a Nick Drake "Pink Moon" original Island CD pressed by PDO that is bronzing (still plays OK and is ripped anyway)

My first CDs were all the Kraftwerk albums up to Computer Welt on German Import (purchased circa 1985). Despite being well over 30 years old they all still play fine.

You do get some other technical issues with ripping older discs. Some have Pre-Emphasis (these discs can be processed after ripping using SOX software).

Classical discs often have index markers as well as track markers. I recently discovered that you can rip by Index to make these separate tracks in Exact Audio Copy.

Discs from the 90s are sometimes HDCD (again there is software to extract these files with the HDCD intact).

Another thing to watch out for. The old Fatboy CD cases often contained a small sheet of foam to protect the discs. This foam can degrade over the years and adhere to the discs. I had a disc in a Jean Michelle Jarre box set ruined by this. I advise you remove this foam before it is too late.

[Macca]

I have a Nick Drake "Pink Moon" original Island CD pressed by PDO that is bronzing (still plays OK and is ripped anyway)

My first CDs were all the Kraftwerk albums up to Computer Welt on German Import (purchased circa 1985). Despite being well over 30 years old they all still play fine.

You do get some other technical issues with ripping older discs. Some have Pre-Emphasis (these discs can be processed after ripping using SOX software).

Classical discs often have index markers as well as track markers. I recently discovered that you can rip by Index to make these separate tracks in Exact Audio Copy.

Discs from the 90s are sometimes HDCD (again there is software to extract these files with the HDCD intact).

Another thing to watch out for. The old Fatboy CD cases often contained a small sheet of foam to protect the discs. This foam can degrade over the years and adhere to the discs. I had a disc in a Jean Michelle Jarre box set ruined by this. I advise you remove this foam before it is too late.

Good advice about the foam. I've seen those cases but never had one myself.

It's funny though. You've got on the one hand people saying that plastics take thousands of years to degrade in landfill and on the other people saying that your cds, sat on a bookshelf, in their cases, in your warm, dry living room probably won't even last you out before they degrade to a state where they are unplayable. Someone's got to be wrong.

[Minstrel SE]

Cds ocassionally need a very light dusting with a blower brush and very light rub with a suitable specified cd cloth. A well looked after cd in a temperature controlled home will barely need any maintenance.

I just give a blower brush dusting, some breath and an extremely light drag back of a cloth I have.

Great care is needed with the right type of dust free cd cloth as any rubbing can introduce fine scratches

Ive even run dirty used cds through a warm water and washing up liquid rinse before giving them a final clean.

There is a lot to be said for the humble cd. I dont look at them with the reverence I had in the early 1980s but I dont think anybody can complain about longevity and maintenance of the playing surface

[bobvfr]

I have almost finished ripping, about 10 double discs to go, I can't help but have noticed that all the ones that are in poor condition (Scratches and marks) are all in the category of "Been badly abused at drunken parties many many times", and still it's only the opening track on a Doors album that hasn't ripped.

The vast majority of them are still in very good condition and should last the rest of my life and beyond, when the CD came out the prices where a bit steep compared to the album or cassette prices, but I have played some of these albums thousands of times so maybe not such a bad investment after all :-)

And thanks for all the advice regards cleaning but having owned these for all of this time I do actually know how to do it.

So my advice to all of you, if you want your CD's to last a long time is "Don't get drunk".

[Haselsh1]

Bought my first CD's in 1983 and still have a few of them. They still look and play fine.