CD's....could they be made better?

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
1

I was told that if a CD is never scratched, it will last forever. BS. A CD’s aluminum can oxidize, it happened to my sisters’ Korn CD. The plastic of the CD isn’t exactly perfect either- I have taken brand new CD’s, put them in my CD player, and taken them out with hairline scratches. The CD player is brand new AIWA, it never ruined any tapes in any way… I think thats bull. With all the new plastics and metals that are being developed even as you read this, you would think they could make virtually indestructable CD’s. So much for CD’s being the ‘indestructible music and information storing devices of the future’.

Wash, Rinse, Maim.

2

Actually, theyre working on this problem as we speak.

The data will be stored as before, but the CD will be coated with a transparent polymer.

The problem was, if the coating was thick enough to do any good it caused too many read errors. Something to do with the refraction index.

Last I heard, this problem is all but solved.

This space for rent.

3

There are places where they will remove the coating on CD’s, which hold the scratches, then re-apply a new coat to remove any of the scratches, etc.

4

Where is it said CDs are indistructable?

5

You were told by who? I don’t think CDs have ever been claimed to “last forever” by the manufacturers of them.

OTOH, if treated carefully, and there are no major mfg defects, I’ve seen figures like 100 years tossed around. Obviously if you go scratching them or storing them in hot cars or whatever, you might might arbitrarily shorten their lifespan.

I have some that must be from, gosh, maybe '83 or '84? They’re indistinguishable from new as far as I can tell.

peas on earth

6

I have many over 15 years old that play like new. I’ve only had 2 or 3 out of 90 or so scratched badly enough that it would skip. In each case I only lost a couple of tracks. Sure beats tapes and records.

7

I don’t know if this is so or not, but I visited a radio station once and the CDs they used were industrial strength thickness and weight, no doubt for the rough handling they get, not to mention the constant play they’ll receive.

I wonder what the differences are between them and commercially available CDs.

-PIGEONMAN-
Hero For A New Millennium!

The Legend Of PigeonMan - updates every Wed & Sat. If I can be bothered.

8

Markxxx: I don’t think that CDs were touted to be indestructible, but were marketed with the guarantee that you would be able to use them for a lifetime if you took reasonable care in handling them. You know–don’t scratch them, clean in a straight line from center-to-edge, don’t expose to extreme heat, yadda yadda yadda… In fact, if you have any CDs that were manufactured in the mid-80’s you will probably find a little blurb near the back of the liner notes which tells about the advantages of CD technology. (I don’t think you find this blurb on CDs made in the 90’s.)