Forums

Getting back to the problem of MUSIC CDs that have become (almost) unplayable due to background noise and distortion:  If I had to figure out an IMAGE of what I guess the damage to the sonic reprodcution of those "unplayable" CDs is like it would be close to the image above. Like I said earlier, the distortion is hard to describe, it is a more or less crunching distortion that does seem to be linked to the actual music. I.e. the distortion patterns follow those of the music (that you still can hear, but in a bad way). And the strange thing is that while I do have the distinct impression that the dud CD-Rs from that recent haul I made were corrupted by problems with the glued-on label that had become detached partially and caused imbalance, the distorted noise that overlays the music sounds very much like that on CD-Rs I burnt (or had received) many years ago and assumed they had failed due to age. But these CDs never had any glued-on labels that may have become detached and cause imbalance. Just to check I went outside to my car and retrieved one of these "failing" CD-Rs. I had burnt it a good 20 years ago, found it had started to show increasing distortion (on the last few tracks) about 10 years ago, bought a new "real" CD of it for my collection and relegated the CD-R (that I'd figured was on its way out) to a corner in my car glove box so I'd be able to listen to what remained listenable on it (it's goodtime music that you can enjoy while driving for as long as the sound is OK). I had not listened to it in years, though, but spun it again now and to my amazement found that the distortion still is as it was back then: degradation starts at track 23 out of 27, increases and tracks 26 and 27 are virtually unlistenable. But no further deterioration during those pas 10 years! Odd ... But what I think I've learnt from the above discussion here is that those dud CD-Rs that arbitrarily jump, splutter and skip and then resume and/or stop altogether and on next try might not start up again at all (at least not on every CD player) are likely to be afflicted by a different kind of deterioration of the data. Isn't it?  

Oh sorry I guess I gave the wrong impression.  He was not intentionally breaking stuff.  Kids just naturally have a way of finding out the weak points of stuff.  I was pretty similar as a boy.  Luckily I was in my forties when I had him 30 years ago and was mellow and forgiving when he broke stuff.  Shit happens!

Jonathan Blake “Gone but Note Forgotten” Criss Cross cd An exciting session with both Chris Potter and Mark Turner   235×235 17.7 KB

Wow. I didn't know this, but why would anyone go out of their way to deliberately mess with CDs? I mean, my kids would just go the good ole' fashioned way and spill milk on my CDs and laugh, as I cried; but this thinking I don't get, like why this: "When he was small my kid was pretty good at finding the weak spots in things.  He showed me that it is easy to completely wreck a cd by not putting it far enough onto the spindle and then shoving the cd tray into a pc.  Another time he pulled a cd up off the spindle of a laptop when the cd tray/drawer was not all the way out - bent it seriously.  If I remember right it didn't snap but was totally unusable." Wha? That's like fucking around with my car, so it doesn't start. First things first, I'd say (just me), "Stop touching my shit!" Just saying.  Question further begs, why? How come? What enjoyment comes out of this? Fucking with the integrity of enjoying a CD eludes me. For example, if I (stupidly) left a CD nearby my daughters, I was playing roulette; anything near them (because they were sloppy) was at my own risk. Frankly, my kids were just slops, like, "sorry dad" as they spill milk on Dizzy's Blues In Trinity. Like, try cleaning up milk off a CD; just as wholesome as a good-ass,fun-ass, hoe-down, cleaning up broken eggs off the floor...sorry dad. That aside, like why mess with CDs otherwise? Oh yeah, keep them away from your kids. 

CDs are pretty robust, generally, but they have some vulnerabilities.  There is a directory area at the beginning of the data which if compromised with quite a small nick generally spells the end.  It's pretty easy to mess up a cd by putting scratches and holes through the label side and screwing up the reflective layer. Steve has documented nasty issues with glue-on labels, above.  When he was small my kid was pretty good at finding the weak spots in things.  He showed me that it is easy to completely wreck a cd by not putting it far enough onto the spindle and then shoving the cd tray into a pc.  Another time he pulled a cd up off the spindle of a laptop when the cd tray/drawer was not all the way out - bent it seriously.  If I remember right it didn't snap but was totally unusable. As to vinyl - I grew up with it and I admit it used to sound amazing through the tube push-pull mono amp my dad assembled and the big tuned speaker enclosure he built.  I particularly remember loving Jimmy Smith's The Cat on that rig.  But I also remember the heartbreak of skips and scratches...