bad cd ?

[farook]

HI
I have a cd copy of Kate Bush "never forever " albun
Its def a kosher copy,but it plays like a really bad copy ?
You know that scatchy,echoey thing going on
In the background ? Every other cd plays fine,except
This one ,I bought it from hmv about ten years ago
Its def not a copy ? My question is,do cds degrade with age age
? It played ok last time I played it about a year ago ?

[Audioflair]

I think CD`s do degrade with age. Also, customers occasionally make me copies of CDs they`ve brought along to a demo which I`ve enjoyed.
Three times now I`ve bought the original only to find it has sounded more 2 dimensional and blander than the copy! I`m definitely not imagining it.
Could it be that the writable cd`s from the likes of Maxell and Memorex are of higher quality polycarbonate or better-centred than the mass-produced originals?
Or that the copying method is better...

[farook]

Well
i am not sure about that?
all i know,is that this cd cost me fifteen quid at the time,i have vinyl that cost eight quid
twenty years ago,and still plays fine!
its a swizz,will all my cd's corrupt over time?

[Mr Nad]

Wasn't there a 'scare' a few years back abut some CDs decaying due to a flawed manufacturing process?

I think, from memory, that it was either discs pressed at a certain plant, or the formulation of the disc. Gold-coloured disks...?

I have a couple of duplicates in my collection, and they are different coloured disks, but both play equally well.

[keiths]

Wasn't there a 'scare' a few years back abut some CDs decaying due to a flawed manufacturing process?

I think, from memory, that it was either discs pressed at a certain plant, or the formulation of the disc. Gold-coloured disks...?

I have a couple of duplicates in my collection, and they are different coloured disks, but both play equally well.

This is "cd bronzing" and mainly occurs with cds made by PDO - Phillips Dupont Optical. I've got several discs that exhibit this problem (most of my John Martyn cds, for example). There used to be a simple replacement scheme run by PDO, but after the company was sold, this ceased.

[nat8808]

Is it lightly scratched, nothing bad but from general usage?

I have a proper CD polishing machine at home that brings them out like new but I've not fired it up yet (need to buy consumables and clean it up) - wonder if it's just bad error correction coming into play.

But scratchy and echoey? Not sure it's the CD necessarily but perhaps the mastering, production etc. There's no way it could echo due to CD deterioration I don't think - if a bit is overlayed over another bit it will simply switch state or not and just change the information. Echo like that can only happen in an analogue domain I would have thought.

I have a re-master CD of Hounds of Love. You can clearly hear the echo on the tape on quiet bits from it having been stored over the years and the magnetic imprint effecting the next layer of tape that lies on top, a ghosting effect. Same with a Doors CD too..

I also have a CD of Red Shoes and it sounds 2D and a bit dull. This was one of the albums she was unhappy with and so re-did the tracks on her recent album (one before the last) simply because it was recorded on early-ish digital and she had never been happy with it.

I think it's the re-issue problem as your CD is from 10 years after the original release. Just bad quality from the off perhaps but only now you notice because your system is better and your ears are better trained..

[farook]

Hi
well after a bit of messin about,i have decided it must be my cd player!
poor old thing cost me a tenner,but it sounds so nice most of the time,but every now and then it comes across a disk it cant play? sometimes you have to really listen to the speaker grills to actually hear the noise? its a kind of scuffing and scratching and sort of echo? thats all i can describe,i have put my old kenwood player back in the rack for now,not sure what to do with the eclipse,its a shame,i loved the sound!

[dave2010]

There were CDs which bronzed, and I believe that some recording companies will still replace them if advised. One thing you could try is to copy the "dodgy" CD on your computer, using one of those determined rippers like Exact Audio Copy (EAC) - which keeps playing the tracks until it gets all the bits - if it can, then try burning a new CD and see if your player likes that any better.

If there are scratches on the original CD, try using Brasso or toothpase to polish it, and it may sound better after that. That might also help with the rip for the new CD. I have had success with CDs using that kind of technique.

[Reid Malenfant]

Wasn't there a 'scare' a few years back abut some CDs decaying due to a flawed manufacturing process?

I think, from memory, that it was either discs pressed at a certain plant, or the formulation of the disc. Gold-coloured disks...?

Yes, I had a load of CDs that suffered disc rot, they were pressed by a UK firm called PDO.

There was a bit of a recall & I got all of my discs that suffered this replaced FOC. Apparently they hadn't been sealed properly on the edges in the centre & the outside of the disc, as a consequence the aluminium reflective layer corroded, turning a nasty brown colour & holes forming in the reflective layer