[scott v]

The worst thing that can happen to CDs is the "disc rot" problem. I have a couple of CDs that have this (a Current 93 live at Maldorer cd and an original pressing on the label Shock of the Moore/Sauter/Deitrich Barefoot in the Head cd, not refering to the Forced Exposure reissue), I have learned that a lot of CDs that were manufactured by the English pressing plant "PDO" in the early 90's (and some others) can have this "disc rot".

First, the edges on the label side change to a bronze color. Then, the "bronzing" grows towards the inside. Slowly, the tracks begin to skip, starting with the last one. Eventually, the disc will end up "dead"... luckily only the Current 93 disc has the skipping and isn't dead yet, and the Moore/Sauter/Deitrich still plays fine...

Has anyone else experienced this? I hope not too many of you encountered this problem...

[Pookie]

This was known very early on.

I remember reading about it in the early 1990s. You can hold up old CDs to the light and see small holes which begin to appear as the surface of the CD disintegrates. I had unplayable CDs by the mid-90s that I'd bought only a couple of years earlier.

[Toilet & Bowels]

i didn't know people cared about original pressings with CDs

[Pookie]

I would avoid original pressings of older CDs if anything. The sound quality was generally abysmal anyway.

[mangajunky]

this happened to me on a Muddy Waters CD.

[Cantankerous]

if i actually had any CDs i would go check them.

[scott v]

Originally Posted by Toilet & Bowels

i didn't know people cared about original pressings with CDs

I only care not because they could be or are necessarily "collectable" but more so that they can potentially be unplayable. I bought the Moore/Suater/Deitrich cd at least 10 years ago used in a used record shop and when i bought it their was no bronzing. i've only noticed the bronzing taking effect in the last 9 or so months.
The Current 93 disc i also purchased used but much more recently and it already had the bronzed look and was played with that "staticy glitchy thing" going on a couple of tracks... unfortunately when it comes to buying used cds that could have been pressed in this time frame, you don't know until you play or look at the disc that you could have one that is "ROTTED".

[Cantankerous]

ahahahaha collectable. yeah right. the most disposable format on the face of the earth.

[reginald]

I've been acquiring cd's since 1987 and have some that came out in '83 (pretty much the first year of availabilty) and have NONE to ROT. I take extreme care of them...no heat above room temperature, no direct sunlight and I handle them very carefully. I only carry enough with me in my car that I can take them IN wherever I go so they don't stay out in the cooking car. I just hope the older ones I have don't start in on that ROT and someday I'll put them all on external HD's as flacs or NO compression, certainly NOT mp3's. Those cd binder/albums are shit too, they will stick to the cd's..the label side, where the info in JUST under the printing and fuck them up that way. I've seen that happen. I shoulda just stuck with vinyl over 20 years ago when I made my transition, but oh well.

[scott v]

Originally Posted by Cantankerous

ahahahaha collectable. yeah right. the most disposable format on the face of the earth.

Not disputing that but there are a few cds that go for more $$$ than alot of rare vinyl. but this is the weird phenomen that exists with the world of eBay and those who relate to it.

And i didn't start this thread to necessarily engage in a feud about the fundamentals of vinyl vs compact disc vs electronic files... as both vinyl and the cd format has had its pressing flaws. my point is about the early 90's era of defective cd pressings.

[scott v]

Originally Posted by reginald

I've been acquiring cd's since 1987 and have some that came out in '83 (pretty much the first year of availabilty) and have NONE to ROT. I take extreme care of them...no heat above room temperature, no direct sunlight and I handle them very carefully. I only carry enough with me in my car that I can take them IN wherever I go so they don't stay out in the cooking car. I just hope the older ones I have don't start in on that ROT and someday I'll put them all on external HD's as flacs or NO compression, certainly NOT mp3's. Those cd binder/albums are shit too, they will stick to the cd's..the label side, where the info in JUST under the printing and fuck them up that way. I've seen that happen. I shoulda just stuck with vinyl over 20 years ago when I made my transition, but oh well.

Only cds pressed in the early 90's from the English Pressing Plant "PDO" have this problem, if you look at the inner ring of the cd if it notates "PDO" the potential is there for disc rot.

[Rob Instigator]

older CD's and early CD-r's are also experienceing this problem

it is an oxidation of th inner metal that holds the encoded data

eventually ALL CD's will degrade as such, just by virtue of plastic darkening and stiffening and shrinking through time.

[scott v]

Originally Posted by Pookie

This was known very early on.

I remember reading about it in the early 1990s. You can hold up old CDs to the light and see small holes which begin to appear as the surface of the CD disintegrates. I had unplayable CDs by the mid-90s that I'd bought only a couple of years earlier.

this is a little different than what i'm talking about when i hold these "bronzed" cds in light there isn't really any holes to see-through. but yeah i remember reading about this too.

[scott v]

Originally Posted by Rob Instigator

older CD's and early CD-r's are also experienceing this problem

it is an oxidation of th inner metal that holds the encoded data

eventually ALL CD's will degrade as such, just by virtue of plastic darkening and stiffening and shrinking through time.

i had an older sonic youth bootleg pressed on a cd-r and it played normal for a year and then started to have a staticy skip starting on the later tracks and working towards the early ones. there weren't any scratches and the disc wasn't exposed to excessive heat or moisture, i assumed it was burned to a defective cd-r that had oxidized.

[MellySingsDoom]

"Thanks" to PDO, there's hardly a decent copy of Skullflower's "Xaman" left on CD. Thank the Lord I bought a vinyl copy all those years ago.

[gualbert]

New Order. Power , Corruption ( sic ) , lies .
and Movement as well.

I thought it affect only the top side , with no music.
But , yeah , it seems to grow on both sides.

[Toilet & Bowels]

yeah, CD-Rs are shit, stuff i bought only a few years ago just doesn't play at all

[Phlegmscope]

none of the disks I have from the early 90's have any notable flaws. few of them have been treated like shit, which can be heard as minor skipping.

I once read that cds have a theoretical lifespan of few hundred years, but I wouldn't count on it. we'll see in a couple of decades, if the worst case scenario is true.

I've been thinking about opting for vinyl always when it is possible from now on.

[Glice]

I've got maybe two fucked LPs, and I buy some right tatty second-hand guff. You clean them, they'll turn out alright.

I don't take the best of care of my CDs, and I've got a few that are unplayable. Such an infuriating format. Luckily, there's very little I have on CD that's irreplacable that I would replace if it remained entirely fucked.

This CD rot affected a load of Durtro artists, no? I seem to remember reading about Whitehouse or possibly Coil bemoaning such pressings.

[Everyneurotic]

had that happen to me with cd-rs, i bought volume 5 direct from bardo pond at their website and it arrived unplayable.

i know i'll have to tranfer tons of cd-r material (bootlegs) to dvd-r data or other cd-rs at some point soon.