I was totally unaware of that. I thought CDs would be considered an archival medium.
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How Often To Clean CD's?
- Thread starter ZenG
- Start date
I was totally unaware of that. I thought CDs would be considered an archival medium.
My 'Briefcase Full of Blues' CD (ca 1982) still plays just fine.
Actually - all my LaserDisk still play just fine, and they're even more prone to 'disk rot.'
That said - I've copied a bunch of the collection to MP3's on the NAS.
Which is backed up to - yup - DVD...
Actually - all my LaserDisk still play just fine, and they're even more prone to 'disk rot.'
That said - I've copied a bunch of the collection to MP3's on the NAS.
Which is backed up to - yup - DVD...
Masked-metal CD's are a _far_ different product than a recordable disk. Recordables are dye-based and therefore fugitive. Metal CD's are aluminum sandwiched in plastic.
My understanding (I am not a professional, I just have a girlfriend who is an archivist) is that even the masked-metal CDs are not considered an archival medium. Your specific mileage may vary, obviously.
MrMills:-
How do they sound?
well.........scratchy mids....and it's like the bass is distorting somewhat.....sometimes the mids sound hollow........Listening to them I get "cd fatigue" pretty quick....
All in all a cheap crappy experience ...as if I was listening to them on a $9.95 cd player with cheapo speakers....sort of.....(maybe that's a bit of an exaggeration)
I did read somewhere that laser heads will degrade over time.....not up on that stuff though......
I've tried using the discs with the brushes on to clean the laser pickup........didn't notice much difference....
Guess I could take the players apart and swab the eye...
Sounds like I may have to update some albums methinks from reading responses here........
Somebody here posted that they use Windex.......every cd site I've been on emphatically warns against using Windex or Ether or alcohol based products to clean cd's.....
How do they sound?
well.........scratchy mids....and it's like the bass is distorting somewhat.....sometimes the mids sound hollow........Listening to them I get "cd fatigue" pretty quick....
All in all a cheap crappy experience ...as if I was listening to them on a $9.95 cd player with cheapo speakers....sort of.....(maybe that's a bit of an exaggeration)
I did read somewhere that laser heads will degrade over time.....not up on that stuff though......
I've tried using the discs with the brushes on to clean the laser pickup........didn't notice much difference....
Guess I could take the players apart and swab the eye...
Sounds like I may have to update some albums methinks from reading responses here........
Somebody here posted that they use Windex.......every cd site I've been on emphatically warns against using Windex or Ether or alcohol based products to clean cd's.....
Thank you..lots of wrong info posted up to this point..they do degrade..especially if handled or stored poorly
What do you mean by "masked metal"?
Every cd I've got looks like it's got a metal layer in it.....
Every cd I've got looks like it's got a metal layer in it.....
Yes - exactly.
As contrasted with "writable" or "re-writable" media, which have a dye layer.
"Writable" media is manufactured at all one state, and consumer-grade lasers punch holes in it.
Commercial (i.e. mass-produced) CD's are more like integrated circuits (IC chips) than writable disk media. A solid (if only a few molecules thick) disk is created by photolithography. This process is only cost-effective when many thousand identical disks are to be produced.
If you've ever produced an "on-demand" DVD you'll be able to see the characteristic dye layer. My writable CD's look like mass-produced CD's but since the manufacturing technology is much different and the power levels much lower, they can't be expected to have the same permanence.
Writable media has, from what I have been able to determine, lifespan of many an order of magnitude less than commercial disks.
Yes - _everything_ will eventually degrade - even stone tablets. But good commercial CD's (there is cr&p out there, just as in every field) fall into the "no one knows really" category. (There was evidently a really bad batch once upon a time that caused a lot of anguish.)
But still - unlike contact media - CD's don't sound bad as they age. They may skip, they may 'retry', they may refuse to play at all. They play or they don't. Little more than distilled water and soft cloth - always in radial patterns - is indicated for cleaning.
If your CD's sound bad, look to EQ - that's as good as it's going to get.
I've never been without graphic equalizers since I bought my first stereo decades ago....
I know some people say EQ's are audiophile blasphemy but I've used mine to good advantage many many a time...
I usually eq every time I put a cd on...
For storage they are in a drawer that is dark......normal house temp.....humidity here fluctuates around 55%...
I store them on edge instead of flat...although there was a little while where some of them were stored stacked flat.
I know some people say EQ's are audiophile blasphemy but I've used mine to good advantage many many a time...
I usually eq every time I put a cd on...
For storage they are in a drawer that is dark......normal house temp.....humidity here fluctuates around 55%...
I store them on edge instead of flat...although there was a little while where some of them were stored stacked flat.
I've found that if a particular CD isn't reading on an audio CD player (in the car, or my inexpensive home stereo), it is often still readable on my PC. So I've salvaged otherwise damaged CD's by ripping them onto my PC.
In my view, ripping to PC and then having good computer hygiene and a backup system in place is the best way of preserving my CD's.
In my view, ripping to PC and then having good computer hygiene and a backup system in place is the best way of preserving my CD's.
How strange. Does it only happen on specific CDs? Have you played them on different equipment and had the same experience?
Mostly, CD's will be fine if kept in their cases. I've had one or two actually degrade on me and become unplayable, but these were CD's from the late eighties, newer ones should be OK. You won't need cleaning solutions or soapy water - a clean microfiber cloth will do to polish off fingerprints and such.
MrMills:-
from playing some of them on different players now I've come to the conclusion it is the cd's themselves and not the players.....
so guess I have to replace a few.........
from playing some of them on different players now I've come to the conclusion it is the cd's themselves and not the players.....
so guess I have to replace a few.........
Some CD-Rs won't play on the player in my car, but are fine at home. Not a big thing. I don't clean CDs. DVDs from Netflix sometimes will play if I rub something soft over them if they're being finicky. You're supposed to rub across these things, not in a circular motion.
I read that the non playing side of discs are more vulnerable than the playing side.
I read that the non playing side of discs are more vulnerable than the playing side.
While we're on the subject.......what exactly WOULD be considered an "archival medium" for music?
Punched Mylar tape should be pretty good.
At 10 bytes per inch, you'd need about a mile per song...
The short answer is: nothing you can record on at home.
Then it comes down to storage conditions.
No UV, no ozone. Stable cool temperature and moderate humidity.
Lots of computer records requiring long-term storage are written to mag tape and stored in underground (salt mine) caverns. The managing companies periodically re-record the data because the little magnetic domains eventually fade. I expect there are also a lot of embedded error-correction bits used with the data. And like any flexible and contact medium, the carrier film degrades too.
The gold record NASA sent into space was created to last for a long time. So the next question is how long is forever, in terms of how long will you care about the data, how long will there be equipment available to read the data back, and what's it worth to you?
At 10 bytes per inch, you'd need about a mile per song...
The short answer is: nothing you can record on at home.
Then it comes down to storage conditions.
No UV, no ozone. Stable cool temperature and moderate humidity.
Lots of computer records requiring long-term storage are written to mag tape and stored in underground (salt mine) caverns. The managing companies periodically re-record the data because the little magnetic domains eventually fade. I expect there are also a lot of embedded error-correction bits used with the data. And like any flexible and contact medium, the carrier film degrades too.
The gold record NASA sent into space was created to last for a long time. So the next question is how long is forever, in terms of how long will you care about the data, how long will there be equipment available to read the data back, and what's it worth to you?
Go FLAC and you will never go back. Being able to fit all your music that used to take up an entire room on a hard drive the size of your palm is awesome. That being said, I still have around a hundred LPs on a shelf. They look cool and I like to listen to them from time to time.
lowsound
lowsound
