[Dixielandjazz] CDs

[andy.ling at quantel.com]

Marek Boym wrote on 05/11/2010 22:47:49:

> Sometime ago I mentioned two Cds that became blank after a while, and
> someone suggested using tooth paste on them.
> Now, a frien's CD, although showing no signs of wear, started playing
> like a badly worn LP!  I would like to try with tooth paste (cleaning
> with a CD cleaning device has not helped), but do not remember how!
> 

The discussion about using toothpaste was about removing small scratches.
Toothpaste is a fine abrasive. So you can use it to polish the
surface of the CD. This can sometimes remove small scratches
and reduce the errors seen when reading the CD.

The trouble is, there are many reasons a CD can stop working. If it is
a commercially produced CD, then these are pressed. There is a thin
layer of foil sandwiched between plastic. This has small bumps pressed
into it. Over time, the foil can creep and cause small holes to appear.
If you get too many holes or they become too big, the error correction
system in your CD player can't cope and you get "jumps".

If it is a CD-R or CD-RW written by a computer. These rely on dyes.
The writing process changes the dye in a way that can be read. Over
time, the dye can change and fade, so increasing the number of errors.

Also the brightness of the laser in your CD player fades over time.
So you may find a CD will play on a new player but not on an old
one. This may also be due to older CD players not being compatible
with CD-Rs. Or even that a newer player has a better error correction
system.

So by all means try polishing the play side of the CD with toothpaste.
It is unlikely to do any harm and may help. Otherwise you can try
reading the CD on another machine. If you can get a computer to read
it, you could make a "backup" copy. Otherwise you've just got to
go and buy a new copy (if you can)

Hope that helps

Andy Ling




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