Have any of you had the CD problem of [tarnishing or browning] I understand it is applicable to AVS and other makes, it is a breakdown of the silvering layer [oxidation] that is used to digitally write on, this results in the usual skipping and stuttering that you get with a scratch. But of course in this case the CD is not scratched.
At the moment I have a AVS CD that I am endeavouring to copy just to see if the fault will be transferred or not, the damaged track has now been labouredly copying for over 2 hrs, will let you know the results, but any comments would be welcome,

I think now would be a good time to check you Cds, this problem affects DG, ASV, Hyperion, Decca, and maybe a lot more. My attempt to copy was unsuccessful, the PC stalled after 2 tracks and spat out the sick CD,
Get onto it before its too late

Good advice above. I didn't think you would solve it. After 2 hours trying to copy a CD, it clearly is too long. I had similar trouble with a CD once. They seem to have a certain "life" and that's it. It was this that made me copy everything. I bought an external drive to put them onto. When I create new CDs they only go onto Sony or Phillips or TDK. They're so cheap it's not worth skimping.

This sounds like the famous "disc rot" that plagued (in particular) Nimbus pressings for a while and was about incompatibility with the ink in the printed leaflet affecting the lacquer (label side) that directly covers the silvering. It's possible that some computers will copy such a disc specially if the read speed is set slow. I don't know how it affects other "makes" (pressing plants).

It seems that it is faulty sealing of CD, in the late 80 to early 90s, I have found 15 with tarnishing, some are still playable so have been copied,
3 had the last track or two badly effected, I have had one replaced by the retailer, it was well over 15 yrs old, on the CD notes in the case most had the message
“ This CD will give a lifetime of perfect enjoyment” or words to that effect
The link below explains it better.



http://www.gramophone.co.uk/mainforu...56&type=chrono

Yes, CDs start playing in the centre and rot seems to start at the edge so the last tracks. Nimbus offered replacements if they were available - sadly, not all were. I have a BBC CD that "suddenly" became unplayable though it doesn't seem to be tarnished. I wrote to the BBC but they withdrew it some time ago....makes one suspicious....

Lifetime enjoyment? Yeah?

I naively thought that CD's are practicaly immortal!

Personally, I've had more problems with DVD players, more than anything else. After awhile and a fair amount of usage, the CD or DVD that's playing freezes up. I don't if anyone else has experienced this issue with some of their DVD players?

Also, CD's seem to be much more sensitive nowadays to any little minor dust/dirt and scratches. Back when I first started buying CD's in the early 1990's, I'd have discs with many scratches, fingerprints and such and they seemed to not be affected.

Just got my first one. Although stored correctly upright and at a temperature that doesn't vary wildly, the layers seem to be separating on one of my discs...in certain light little patches of prismatic rings can be seen. The disc won't even get to the menu so presumably the TOC is messed up.

I can't answer that as few others play my CDs so they don't get scratched or fingerprinted. It's possible that in the never ending drive for profit, companies have discovered cheaper ways of silvering that don't work as well. I'm also quite surprised at the number of smaller production runs that are done in duplicators rather than pressed. Ok, to the red-book standards but these CDs are more vulnerable to heat and light.

I have never had trouble with Japanese-mastered/pressed CDs, some quite old now as well.

Another point: I've been enquiring about the life expectancy of a CD-R under "normal" storage conditions. (Kodak claim their photodiscs (.pcd files) will last 100 years.) But I'm getting wildly different answers. Some cheaper discs can't be expected to last more than a few years so I'm doing important stuff on the Fuji discs that claim to be a little less vulnerable.

I see this topic discussed on many forums. As yet, I have not witnessed this although, with almost 4000 CDs and over 1500 DVDs, I'm sure I will. I am not about to start looking through my collection for possible damage though!

Does anyone know if it's a particular trait to specific labels?

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The whole task is actually easier than what it seems. You should look for that very old Nutcracker suites cd* you purchased many years ago. The one that started the collection.


*Digression: Thoughtful statistics reveal orchestral suites from Bizet's Carmen have proven adequate compatibility with the notion of starting a large scale collection.

I'm afraid it really isn't that simple. If it were just the oldest CDs that would be understandable and relatively easy to check. It's just not the case besides, I have checked all my first batch and they're fine. The consensus seems to be that it's only a few, specific, labels and not ALL CDs. Apparently some labels used cheaper manufacturing processes. On other forums some of these labels were named. I checked some of these and mine were fine. Pity I can't rememer the labels isn't it?!!! I might do a search within the other forum and come back.

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Have a look at my post #2 above for some labels, it seems to be on CDs of early 90s
I would certainly check your favorite ones and then copy, in total I found about a doz + out of 1000Cds, best of luck.