Audio CD Rot - Degradation - Urgent

[COOLDUDE7808]

Hi ,

For the past few days I have noticed that some of my Audio CD's have developed some scratches ....some of them stay and some of them just go away the next day ... also in some of them black circular patches have developed around the inner edges of the CD. In one of them there is slight warping at the edge . Sratches have also appeared at the label side of the CD.

This could be CD Rot , Oxidation etc ...but its very sudden and not gradual ...

I stay in Chembur , Mumbai ...this could be due to changes in weather and high levels of humidity ... Chembur also is the most polluted part of Mumbai . I have checked CD's stored in different boxes like Jewel Cases , Slim cases etc and also some of my movies stored in spindle box and its the same everywhere ...this has not happened in the last 13 yrs ... I have not lost a single CD from my 2000+ Original Audio CD collection . They are all stored vertically in separate cases in iron / steel cupboard.

Can those staying in Mumbai (especially in and around chembur) check and confirm if this is the case with them also ...

I am thinking of putting everything in spindle boxes and shifting it to my cousin's place in Pune for some time .

 

[Shivam]

I had noticed similar marks on some of my old CDs. They had marks on the center which looked like some kind of oxidation in the form of finger prints on the silver label side. Some others had marks like fungus or mold growth which affects the coatings of camera lenses.

Since then I don't touch the label side of disc too and hold the CDs by the edges. For releasing them from the jewel-case or box, I carefully press only the center of the plastic without touching the disc. I also store the discs in a room where humidity levels are low.

 

[koushik]

I lost few CDs recently due to this. This is due to dust particles and moisture working together causing permanent damage. I lost some rare cds. I don't know whether I will ever get them again!

 

[Staxxx]

I started collecting CDs in the mid 80s. I can tell you that several of my CDs (EMI, Decca etc.) have had problems. These were kept mainly in Goa but also some that were abroad. There is a certain lot that have just gone from silver to yellow. There are other which developed holes in the data layer in random places all over the CD and there are others where the CD edges (in the data layer) have deteriorated.
I think this is a combination of the poor manufacturing process early in CD production (although I am not sure how old your CDs are) and also an environment of high humidity. I am very glad to have ripped all of them which seems much more secure. All these old promises of CDs outliving you and me are unfortunately quite fallacious.

 

[COOLDUDE7808]

@Shivam - Do you stay in Mumbai?

The moment I remove the CD from the Box ...Sratches start appearing ...Today I found lot of black dust particles in some of the CD's ...The CD I saw two days back turned somewhat brownish today...there is heavy pollution and something is definitely wrong ....

Recently I had changed boxes for some of the CD's ...I got good quality Maxell Jewel Cases ... Can bad Jewel Case be a reason for sratches

 

[prepress]

To avoid all these issues (loosing some milestones/jewels) I am taking backup as wave, will keep these on PC and also archive on DVDs.

 

[COOLDUDE7808]

Hi ,

As mentioned earlier I lost a lot of CD's ...so instead of checking on my own CD's ...I went to Landmark in Vashi ...purchased three new cd's ...

CD's which don't have a label at the top and then in the mall itself went to a place where there was enough light ....opened it and immediately scratches started appearing ...eventually on the label side four five dark spots appeared one by one ...this happened with all the three CD's .....When held against the light ...there were pinholes....this is not the one which happens because of manufacturing defect ...

Audio CD rot or degradation is a gradual process ...what is happening now points to something seriously wrong with the climate / pollution ....not in our hands ...The best thing one can do now is to not open the box ...atleast for sometime ...

Some of my old cds are in bad shape

I have been listening to those cd's which I have already opened last week ...and they are showing signs of rotting ....

This is happening in Chembur and Vashi ...Those staying in Mumbai ..pls check and let me know if u have similar experiences ..

 

[mbhangui]

Hi ,

As mentioned earlier I lost a lot of CD's ...so instead of checking on my own CD's ...I went to Landmark in Vashi ...purchased three new cd's ...

CD's which don't have a label at the top and then in the mall itself went to a place where there was enough light ....opened it and immediately scratches started appearing ...eventually on the label side four five dark spots appeared one by one ...this happened with all the three CD's .....When held against the light ...there were pinholes....this is not the one which happens because of manufacturing defect ...

Audio CD rot or degradation is a gradual process ...what is happening now points to something seriously wrong with the climate / pollution ....not in our hands ...The best thing one can do now is to not open the box ...atleast for sometime ...

Some of my old cds are in bad shape

I have been listening to those cd's which I have already opened last week ...and they are showing signs of rotting ....

This is happening in Chembur and Vashi ...Those staying in Mumbai ..pls check and let me know if u have similar experiences ..

My GOD!!! that's scary. Imagine the torture the damage that must be happening at cellular level to our body

 

[Record Player]

Not sure if this is relevant but some years ago in our IT DR Center in Chembur faced a funny issue. The computer systems on the first floor used to switch off automatically just after an hour of use. They conducted a series of problem management analysis and found out that there was a high presence of Sulphur in that area which caused that problem as the building was built on a land that was used to dump waste earlier.

Could you face a similar problem?

 

[Shivam]

@Shivam - Do you stay in Mumbai?

The moment I remove the CD from the Box ...Sratches start appearing ...Today I found lot of black dust particles in some of the CD's ...The CD I saw two days back turned somewhat brownish today...there is heavy pollution and something is definitely wrong ....

Recently I had changed boxes for some of the CD's ...I got good quality Maxell Jewel Cases ... Can bad Jewel Case be a reason for sratches

I was staying in Mangalore when I had those problems with the CDs. Climate is almost similar to Mumbai but a lot less polluted.

 

[umapati]

Hi ,

As mentioned earlier I lost a lot of CD's ...so instead of checking on my own CD's ...I went to Landmark in Vashi ...purchased three new cd's ...

CD's which don't have a label at the top and then in the mall itself went to a place where there was enough light ....opened it and immediately scratches started appearing ...eventually on the label side four five dark spots appeared one by one ...this happened with all the three CD's .....When held against the light ...there were pinholes....this is not the one which happens because of manufacturing defect ...

Audio CD rot or degradation is a gradual process ...what is happening now points to something seriously wrong with the climate / pollution ....not in our hands ...The best thing one can do now is to not open the box ...atleast for sometime ...

Some of my old cds are in bad shape

I have been listening to those cd's which I have already opened last week ...and they are showing signs of rotting ....

This is happening in Chembur and Vashi ...Those staying in Mumbai ..pls check and let me know if u have similar experiences ..

I stay in Mulund and checked few cds from my collection and by the grace of God they were safe.But its my experience that bad quality of jewel case gets bubble in the back cover (Specially black colored plastic cases) and then starts damaging cds too.It creates sticky gum type tiny impressions (like chickenpox) on cd which can be removed by carefully washing it with water and then cleaning it by clean clothe in circular directions.In my opinion it is better to store all cds in Spindle rather than Jewel cases.I have emptied most of the cases and stored in spindle for the last seven years-having a collection of 4000+ cds and 2000+ DVDs.Though it is cumbersome to go through collection but at least it saves cd.

 

[umapati]

Even one more suggestion..make a copy of damaged cd using "Clone Cd" Clone cd -I have tried it & it works very nicely with such scratched cd.You will have perfect copy..and then rip it to Flac OR Wav using EAC (Freeware) EAC and save your precious music..All the best..