Technical question: CD's that aren't scratched at all but have trouble playing?

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Does anybody else deal with this?

I have a fair amount of CD's that when examined closely only have the most minute, minor scratches. Yet, for whatever reason, my CD player has problems with them! Maybe coincidentally, maybe not, but this is usually with the first track. If I try to skip the first track, it works on the rest pretty well (usually).

What is up with this? I take as good care of my CD's as the average ILMer, I'd assume. What the fuck? I am missing some good first tracks!

Anybody?

― Mickey (modestmickey), Saturday, 16 July 2005 03:49 (twenty years ago)

You need a new CD Player.

― The Brainwasher (Twilight), Saturday, 16 July 2005 03:56 (twenty years ago)

I'll second that.

― D.G. Jones (D.G. Jones), Saturday, 16 July 2005 12:44 (twenty years ago)

It's my experience that sometimes a certain print run of a certain cd disagrees with a certain cd-player. Swapping one copy of this title for another doesn't help, unless that copy comes from a different print run (with different glass master used).

I have no idea why and how this happens (must be a technical thing), but it does.

The solution? Waiting for a new print-run, getting a disc from another run (usually buying one from a different country/manufactor) or owning two different cd-players.

― Roger in Mokum (Roger T), Saturday, 16 July 2005 13:19 (twenty years ago)

My understanding is that there have been minor technical changes to CD formats over the last few years, and old players can't cope.

I had particular problems with CDRs, notably a comp of recent Neubauten material a friend had burned for me. I listened to that for at least ten minutes before I realised that the random skipping wasn't their 'new direction'!

― Soukesian, Saturday, 16 July 2005 13:33 (twenty years ago)

My CD player is only a few years old. It's a moderately expensive one too one from Brookstone. Is it normal for CD players to start to burn out so soon?

― Mickey (modestmickey), Saturday, 16 July 2005 14:33 (twenty years ago)

some CD players are just finnicky

― latebloomer: lazy r people (latebloomer), Saturday, 16 July 2005 14:41 (twenty years ago)

This starts happening to me when my CD player is getting old. Mine's doing it now. Sometimes it says "No disc" and won't play CDs at all. It's about 5 years old now.

My last one (which was a different make, Denon instead of Technics) did the same thing after about 4 or 5 years.

― Colonel Poo (Colonel Poo), Saturday, 16 July 2005 16:04 (twenty years ago)

Let's not forget that CDs have a finite life-span -- don't be too quicki to blame a good-quality component player.

Longevity tests have not really been a focused area of research, but it is generally assumed that the average disc will begin to deteriorate 10 years after production but can retain functionality for 70 years. Lower-quality CD-Rs and CD-RWs can begin "losing it" as early as 1 year after being burned. From that point forward, it's a guessing game as to how long you have before it craps out.

Storage is the key variable in all of this -- if you store you discs in a dry place out of direct sunlight, you'll be fine... but it's a myth that CDs are trouble-free archival objects. (All of this goes double for cheapo DVD-Rs.)

― fnf (fnf), Saturday, 16 July 2005 16:39 (twenty years ago)

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