# A question about Cd's! **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [September 9, 2002, 2:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-question-about-cds/127603 "2002-09-09T02:52:12Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Teelo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8491ac/32.png) [@Teelo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Teelo)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2002, 2:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-question-about-cds/127603/1 "2002-09-09T02:52:12Z")
Hello all, Alright, so I was listening to my “Watchmen” cd. (\<~Brilliant) and on one of my tracks, one of my favorite tracks :(, it has one nasty skip. Nasty by I mean 10-15 seconds long of a skip. I’ve tried fixing it, but to no avail… Anyway, the question about cd’s is, well, I can understand that if the bottom is damaged the laser will not be able to read it and a little “skip” will be heard, but! Why oh why does the cd player feel the need to keep repeating the same seconds over and over again? How is it that the laser can get stuck on that nasty scratch? Its not physically attached to this spot, like a record player, what the hell is going on? Wouldn’t it just keep playing and have a crap skip on it, not repeat over and over again? Well, I hope you understand, I kind of thought it was hard to explain, any explanation by you is welcome! 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![happyheathen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b5e925/32.png) [@happyheathen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/happyheathen)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2002, 3:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-question-about-cds/127603/2 "2002-09-09T03:58:01Z")
lasers are funny 😉 is there a physical scratch on the surface of the disk? if not, it’s time for _fun with optics_ now enhanced with **deliberate you-can’t-read-it-in-a-computer [sup]TM[/sup]** technology. Since the mods here don’t like talk of defeating any anti-copy schemes (which **deliberate you-can’t-read-it-in-a-computer [sup]TM[/sup]** technology is), this may get delicate ---
**Author:** ![Alereon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecd19e/32.png) [@Alereon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alereon)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2002, 4:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-question-about-cds/127603/3 "2002-09-09T04:05:38Z")
Have you tried playing it in another reader? There’s no reason I can think of that would cause it to repeat the same section over and over. At worst, there should just be some silence. Perhaps your reader has some odd error correction/buffering methods? If the same error occurs in all players, you’re down to just buying a new CD. ---
**Author:** ![Alereon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecd19e/32.png) [@Alereon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alereon)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2002, 4:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-question-about-cds/127603/4 "2002-09-09T04:12:34Z")
Have you tried playing it in another reader? There’s no reason I can think of that would cause it to repeat the same section over and over. At worst, there should just be some silence. Perhaps your reader has some odd error correction/buffering methods? If the same error occurs in all players, you’re down to just buying a new CD. ---
**Author:** ![happyheathen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b5e925/32.png) [@happyheathen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/happyheathen)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2002, 5:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-question-about-cds/127603/5 "2002-09-09T05:11:46Z")
I had a cd skip like this - it was a mfg defect - I was able to suppress it, but it took some doing. the try-another-machine is a good idea - let us know what happens (AND if there is a mark on the media) ---
**Author:** ![Peanuthead](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peanuthead/32/360_2.png) [@Peanuthead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peanuthead)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2002, 5:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-question-about-cds/127603/6 "2002-09-09T05:54:29Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by FDISK \* > \*\*Have you tried playing it in another reader? There’s no reason I can think of that would cause it to repeat the same section over and over. At worst, there should just be some silence. Perhaps your reader has some odd error correction/buffering methods? If the same error occurs in all players, you’re down to just buying a new CD. \*\* Have you tried playing it in another reader? There’s no reason I can think of that would cause it to repeat the same section over and over. At worst, there should just be some silence. Perhaps your reader has some odd error correction/buffering methods? If the same error occurs in all players, you’re down to just buying a new CD. Have you tried playing it in another reader? There’s no reason I can think of that would cause it to repeat the same section over and over. At worst, there should just be some silence. Perhaps your reader has some odd error correction/buffering methods? If the same error occurs in all players, you’re down to just buying a new CD. Have you tried playing it in another reader? There’s no reason I can think of that would cause it to repeat the same section over and over. At worst, there should just be some silence. Perhaps your reader has some odd error correction/buffering methods? If the same error occurs in all players, you’re down to just buying a new CD. Have you tried playing it in another reader? There’s no reason I can think of that would cause it to repeat the same section over and over. At worst, there should just be some silence. Perhaps your reader has some odd error correction/buffering methods? If the same error occurs in all players, you’re down to just buying a new CD. Hee, hee! 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Alereon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecd19e/32.png) [@Alereon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alereon)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2002, 7:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-question-about-cds/127603/7 "2002-09-09T07:51:32Z")
The hamsters seem to be skipping too…perhaps someone should smack them? ---
**Author:** ![Mikahw](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e9bcb4/32.png) [@Mikahw](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mikahw)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2002, 9:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-question-about-cds/127603/8 "2002-09-09T09:31:55Z")
> [@](#): > > How is it that the laser can get stuck on that nasty scratch? Its not physically attached to this spot, like a record player, what the hell is going on? It’s not physically attached, but the computer in the CD player is programmed to follow the spiral on the disc. If the scratch is big enough, the computer could lose the spiral entirely, then find it again. If you’re unlucky, it’ll find it right before the scratch. When it gets to the scratch, it’ll probably do the same thing as last time, repeating and repeating until you finally hit the stop button. ---
**Author:** ![Teelo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8491ac/32.png) [@Teelo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Teelo)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2002, 4:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-question-about-cds/127603/9 "2002-09-10T04:14:27Z")
Mikahw: That would probably be the reason. Man I feel lucky… The cd is not burnt, and the stereo in my room has some problems playing burnt cd’s along with some normal, store bought ones. (Yes, I have used a cleaning cd on it!) Also, I have tried other players, Sony seems to have the best players for any cd because, well its Sony! Anywho, it skips on my Sony discman and other Sony Stereo. Its so bad that it even stops reading the cd completely, and goes to the next one! And get this, buying the cd again wouldn’t be a problem, except it was a TWO cd set! Gah! I’d be getting double of a perfect cd…So…damn. I’ll consider it…:mad: ---
**Author:** ![happyheathen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b5e925/32.png) [@happyheathen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/happyheathen)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2002, 4:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-question-about-cds/127603/10 "2002-09-10T04:39:11Z")
if a stand-alone player can’t handle it, it is defective - can you return/exchange it? I was able to mask the edge of the defective disk, put in an old 4x pc drive and copy/burn a usuable copy mods: it is stated that the OP’er has a license for the music. we are talking about removing a defect, not bootlegging (I hope) note: the masked disk was still unusable in a 32x drive - have no idea how/why, just know that it worked in a 4x, not in a 32x. ---
**Author:** ![garius](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e19b73/32.png) [@garius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/garius)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2002, 10:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-question-about-cds/127603/11 "2002-09-10T10:24:19Z")
i actually have a jvc portable cd-man thingy which has an anti-jolt memory on it (for when you are walking, driving etc.) which i use in these situations by accident i found that my scratched cds played in it as long as the anti-jolt is on. looking through the gumpf that came with the player i came to the conclusion that its because its designed to deal with skipping - because you may jolt the player when moving it, and when it comes across a scratch it thinks its been jolted and acts like its been programed to - reading ahead, using its 10 second memory etc. etc. basically i bribed a computer hardware god i know with pizza, and he managed (i’ve no idea how - i’m a web techie not a hardware techie) to wire it up to my pc through the microphone in socket. now if i have a scratched cd i just play it in that player on the pc and rip the music off into mp3 format, then burn a new copy. (its a bit more of a complicated process than that - involving a lot of jigging and playing about - and the sound quality isn’t always perfect for some reason) i’d say it works 7/8 times out of ten - its not an ideal solution i know, but it suits me fine. ---
**Author:** ![Alereon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecd19e/32.png) [@Alereon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alereon)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2002, 2:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-question-about-cds/127603/12 "2002-09-10T14:37:09Z")
The [Exact Audio Copy](http://www.exactaudiocopy.de) CD ripper is designed for ripping scratched CDs. I’m not sure how well it would work on a disk as heavily damaged as yours, but if you rip using secure mode and set Error Correction Quality to high, you may be able to recover the data. At the very least, you should be able to grab all other tracks on the CD with perfect quality. If you can’t get a usable copy of the damaged track, go download the highest quality MP3 you can find of the defective track, and burn a new CD. You’ll have to eat a quality loss on the replacement track, but the rest of the tracks should sound perfect, and the CD won’t skip anymore. Note to mods: No file sharing programs or sources of MP3s have been discussed, and the OP has a license to the music in question. ---
**Author:** ![Teelo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8491ac/32.png) [@Teelo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Teelo)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2002, 4:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-question-about-cds/127603/13 "2002-09-11T04:19:14Z")
happyheathen: The cd was perfect when I bought it, I scratched it because I thought the cd was tougher than I thought… It was accidental. I have also had the cd for almost a year, so its kinda late to exchange. FDISK: Thanks for the site, I’ll give this program a try, But keep in mind, that my cd burner is…well crap. It has wasted SO many cds…Gah… maybe another thread is in order? Lets all hope the program I use screws up, not the burner! ---
**Author:** ![Alereon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecd19e/32.png) [@Alereon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alereon)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2002, 12:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-question-about-cds/127603/14 "2002-09-11T12:51:37Z")
Try using the [Nero](http://www.ahead.de) burning program. It might not be very easy for a novice user, but it’s the best, IMHO. ---
**Author:** ![Thinktank](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Thinktank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thinktank)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2002, 2:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-question-about-cds/127603/15 "2002-09-11T14:21:12Z")
I like FDISK’s idea on your track in question. May I ask how exactly you tried repairing it? I bought one of those disk doktor things (against my better judgement) and have repaired any CD I owned with a scratch in it. I buy CD’s where I can find them at the lowest prices as I’m an audiophile to the fullest extent, so many of these CD’s are in used or even a “Pawn-shop-condition”. The first time I used this thing I thought I had ruined my CD completely since the underside doesn’t look quite right after going through it’s “doktoring” stages. Anyway, regardless I think there’s a cheaper solution out there for you then buying a Double set CD again, man those are pricey. Best of luck whatever you decide. ---
**Author:** ![Opengrave](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/919ad9/32.png) [@Opengrave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Opengrave)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2002, 3:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-question-about-cds/127603/16 "2002-09-11T15:33:37Z")
**Thinktank** - any details on how the _disk doktor_ works or where to purchase one? Most of the links I could find were in German or irrelevant. Any details are appreciated. NP: **Opeth** - _My Arms Your Hearse_ ---
**Author:** ![Thinktank](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Thinktank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thinktank)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2002, 3:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-question-about-cds/127603/17 "2002-09-14T03:22:59Z")
Let me do some looking **Opengrave**. ---
**Author:** ![happyheathen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b5e925/32.png) [@happyheathen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/happyheathen)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2002, 4:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-question-about-cds/127603/18 "2002-09-14T04:06:09Z")
Still here? There was a thread recently on repairing scratched Cd’s - the answer: toothpaste + soft, damp cloth (toothpaste is an abrasive) if toothpaste doesn’t cut it (ouch), use polishing compound, then rubbing compound, then #2000 grit cloth, etc. the “disk doctor” devices are nothing but abrasives and a buffing device (read: soft cloth). and, to head off another thread: alcohol (rubbing) is safe on both pressed and burned CD’s - in case you get something on one which soap & water won’t remove. ---
**Author:** ![Thinktank](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Thinktank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thinktank)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2002, 5:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-question-about-cds/127603/19 "2002-09-14T05:29:54Z")
Well, Opengrave here’s the linkhttp://www.digitalinnovations.com/. I had heard that about toothpaste before **happyheathen** but had never really believed it and didn’t want the risk f.u.b.a.r.ing my disk up. Whenever I asked more questions about this from my friends they always came-up all shrugs- so it was like this happy little trivia fact that everyone was spreading around but had no ideas on the details cause they had never tried it themselves. Anyway, in my serch for this “skip doctor” (sorry I had it all wrong) I also noticed there are services available that will professionally repair disks. Of course what alot of them don’t tell you is that if the damage is on the label side you’re F!@\*$ed. Luckily most damage doesn’t occur there in my experience. BTW, I was skeptical of the price of a repair for a CD professionally, so I peeked at the price($3.50 per disk)… they promised any scratch that was not on the label side could be machined out [http://www.auraltech.com](http://www.auraltech.com). Which is probably true and I’m not saying that I’d rather spend money on extra shhh-tuff 🙂 but I prefer the no brainer approach whenever possible. But from where I stand right now, sure give the toothpaste a shot **teelo** (you do use this right? :D…joke) but if it’s deeper you may have to resort to more extreme measures, the good news is. There’s far cheaper ways to fix this CD without buying a whole new CD set. ---
**Author:** ![clayton\_e](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c57346/32.png) [@clayton\_e](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/clayton_e)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2002, 7:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-question-about-cds/127603/20 "2002-09-14T07:45:15Z")
test the toothpaste theory on a badly scratched cd that has been burned (of data or something). [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-question-about-cds/127603.md?page=2)