[Tsaraslondon]

I know everyone is going digital these days, and I do use streaming music services, but I am wedded to my CDs and have no intention of getting rid of them.

My question is about CD players and their built-in error correction facility. I seem to remember that when CDs were first produced, one of the selling points was their longevity and how most CDs could ignore any surface scratches and still play the CDs. I have a Cambridge Audio CD player, which I've now owned for around 10 years. Recently it has refused to play certain CDs, even when I can't see any scratches on them, though it's a bit temperamental (sometimes it will, sometimes it won't) probably meaning that the error correction facility has stopped working.

Modern CD players don't seem to be as good as old ones and indeed I remember that when I purchased this one, it was a replacement for a model that didn't support gapless playback. Nothing in the technical specs prepared me for that and none of the specs for many of the CD players I am looking at now say anything about error correction. I can't afford anything high end. Does anyone have any suggestions?

 

[Phil loves classical]

Error correction is standard for all CD's, as specified by Red Book. I did have a CD that was longer than normal length, that an old player wasn't able to load. Also I have a Samsung player that is extremely shallow, and CD's with a rib would get caught between the tray when the tray is being closed. But these are rare exceptions. Try bringing a CD you say won't play and test it out in the shop which you plan to buy from as a demo. It's possible the CD was destroyed by light (which I had before, from leaving on the car dashboard).

Red Book CD Format Explained

The term “Red Book” is named after one of the Rainbow Books, a series of books (bound in different colors) that contain the technical specifications for all CD and CD-ROM formats, such as the tracks, sectors, block layout, coding, and sampling.

www.travsonic.com

 

[Tsaraslondon]

Error correction is standard for all CD's, as specified by Red Book. I did have a CD that was longer than normal length, that an old player wasn't able to load. Also I have a Samsung player that is extremely shallow, and CD's with a rib would get caught between the tray when the tray is being closed. But these are rare exceptions. Try bringing a CD you say won't play and test it out in the shop which you plan to buy from as a demo. It's possible the CD was destroyed by light (which I had before, from leaving on the car dashboard).

Red Book CD Format Explained

The term “Red Book” is named after one of the Rainbow Books, a series of books (bound in different colors) that contain the technical specifications for all CD and CD-ROM formats, such as the tracks, sectors, block layout, coding, and sampling.

www.travsonic.com

Thanks. The problem seems to be sporadic, which makes me think the player may have developed a fault. The store I bought it from is fairly reliable. They are happy to send it off for repair, but of course they can't guarantee it is repairable. They charge a farily reasonable deductable fee for repairs. In other words, the fee will be deducted from the cost of any repair, but if they can't do it, I lose the money. I just wonder if I'm better to cut my losses and purchase a new player.

 

[pianozach]

Perhaps I've become an old fart that refuses to embrace new technology, like some old grandpa on the sidewalk yelling at the mailbox, but I'm frustrated with the transition to STREAMING services.

We are encouraged to RENT services to provide music to you, and discouraged from OWNING copies of music.

Of course, with a streaming service, I cannot listen to songs or music that are not connected with that "service", and there are plenty of artists and music that these "services" do not "carry".

Same with computer software: the new tech model is to subscribe to the software rather than simply have it stored on one's personal computer. I've seen this happen with ProTools. One can no longer "buy" it, one subscribes to it.

Or news sources. Or entertainment sources such as Hulu, Netflix, Disney, Paramount, etc.

$9.99/month each. It adds up.

 

[Tsaraslondon]

Perhaps I've become an old fart that refuses to embrace new technology, like some old grandpa on the sidewalk yelling at the mailbox, but I'm frustrated with the transition to STREAMING services.

We are encouraged to RENT services to provide music to you, and discouraged from OWNING copies of music.

Of course, with a streaming service, I cannot listen to songs or music that are not connected with that "service", and there are plenty of artists and music that these "services" do not "carry".

Same with computer software: the new tech model is to subscribe to the software rather than simply have it stored on one's personal computer. I've seen this happen with ProTools. One can no longer "buy" it, one subscribes to it.

Or news sources. Or entertainment sources such as Hulu, Netflix, Disney, Paramount, etc.

$9.99/month each. It adds up.

This is one of my major bugbears. And artists get next to nothing from streaming services, compare to what they get from the sale of physical media. It's all a con to give more and more control to the corporations and here we are, ready to give them that control. I use streaming services mostly for try before you buy and for music on the move, but they cannot replace my physical collection, most of which isn't available anymore.

 

[John O]

Perhaps I've become an old fart that refuses to embrace new technology, like some old grandpa on the sidewalk yelling at the mailbox, but I'm frustrated with the transition to STREAMING services.

We are encouraged to RENT services to provide music to you, and discouraged from OWNING copies of music.

Of course, with a streaming service, I cannot listen to songs or music that are not connected with that "service", and there are plenty of artists and music that these "services" do not "carry".

Same with computer software: the new tech model is to subscribe to the software rather than simply have it stored on one's personal computer. I've seen this happen with ProTools. One can no longer "buy" it, one subscribes to it.

Or news sources. Or entertainment sources such as Hulu, Netflix, Disney, Paramount, etc.

$9.99/month each. It adds up.

I listen to youtube with one of free apps that cuts out the ads

 

[mbhaub]

I have a Cambridge Audio player that is also quite picky and it has no error correction built in: the CXC unit is a CD transport and only sends out a digital signal and on coax only. The other real players I have are also a Cambridge, but a newer Yamaha S303 and Onkyo 7030 which are great. Both have been very reliable and have no issues with disks, other than some ASVs from the '80s that have bronzed badly (I need to toss them). As to sound; that's harder to comment on. I use the TOSLINK optical outputs and let the DAC in the receiver handle that. The players have build in DACS but since I don't use the audio out I really can't say how that sounds. I bought my last SACD player - it isn't even "high-end" and still cost over $1,000. As I'm getting older I don't know if sacd is worth it for me anymore. Lossy sound from Spotify actually is ok anymore.

 

[mostly_lurking]

From the Hurwitz youtube channel, it looks like classical music is being sold mostly under the form of box sets with many many cds in each.
What cd players are these collectors using? I remember there used to be a few kinda similar to a jukebox, in which you would put a large number of cds in a wheel, you would press a number, and the wheel would spin to play the one you had selected, it was a way of having dozens of cds inside the cd player and not having to swap them so often

 

[HenryPenfold]

Look on Amazon for a CD laser/lens cleaner. This sometimes helps.

 

[Philidor]

Recently it has refused to play certain CDs, even when I can't see any scratches on them,

Sounds as if the laser is getting older ... I had to throw away two non-cheap players (Sony XA-5 ES and LINN Unidisc SC) as the lasers were old and no replacement was available.

 

[Tsaraslondon]

Look on Amazon for a CD laser/lens cleaner. This sometimes helps.

Definitely worth a try. Thanks.

 

[golfer72]

I recently ( last year or so) replaced two CD players that were over 30 years old. The Sony has an issue with the disc drawer not always staying closed. Gets annoying. The Philips would skip a lot with several discs that played fine on the Sony. I replaced them with a NAD and Marantz player. If they last as long they will outlive me.

 

[RandallPeterListens]

I still have a mountain of music on CD. I don't really have a fancy CD stand-alone audio set-up so no fabulous CD player. But I do still like a portable CD player I can carry around.
Right now I am satisfied with a KLIM Nomad rechargeable portable CD player (about $60), which I like to amp up a bit by running it through a DAC/headphone amplifier unit. The one I have is Aimpire AX50 - low cost but quite effective. With a nice pair of headphones, I think most people would be satisfied with the sound.

One issue, which you do refer to Tsaraslondon, is that there is no setting for gapless playback. This can be occasionally annoying since some recordings seem to be broken up into numerous tracks at incomprehensible and inappropriate points in the music. Seems to me many of the online digital file music players (VLC, MediaMonkey) used to have a selectable gapless playback setting, but I no longer see (or can find) them anymore either. Perhaps I am just using the wrong online digital player?

 

[That Guy Mick]

I know everyone is going digital these days, and I do use streaming music services, but I am wedded to my CDs and have no intention of getting rid of them.

My question is about CD players and their built-in error correction facility. I seem to remember that when CDs were first produced, one of the selling points was their longevity and how most CDs could ignore any surface scratches and still play the CDs. I have a Cambridge Audio CD player, which I've now owned for around 10 years. Recently it has refused to play certain CDs, even when I can't see any scratches on them, though it's a bit temperamental (sometimes it will, sometimes it won't) probably meaning that the error correction facility has stopped working.

Modern CD players don't seem to be as good as old ones and indeed I remember that when I purchased this one, it was a replacement for a model that didn't support gapless playback. Nothing in the technical specs prepared me for that and none of the specs for many of the CD players I am looking at now say anything about error correction. I can't afford anything high end. Does anyone have any suggestions?

Have you considered using a Blu-ray (BR) player? Obviously, it can play a wider range of discs, but also can have a wireless home network feature. Internet connectivity allows the player to pull Album information from GracieNote and display on the player or a TV/monitor. Music can usually be streamed from other devices on the home network (music stored on PC, laptop, or network storage device.

The BR player may also include music apps and usb drive connectivity. Music files can be downloaded to a usb connected drive using a computer, and the downloaded files played using the usb drive connected to the BR player. CD's can be also be copied to the usb drive with a computer (for backup protection or usb play back).

 

[jegreenwood]

First - you may get more responses (although you’ve received quite a few) in the Hi-Fi sub-forum of the recorded music forum.

My guess laser needs cleaning or adjustment.

On another note, I’ve probably owned and/or used at least 25 CD players. Prior to this thread, I’d never heard of one of one that couldn’t play gapless on regular CDs. Now I know that most mp3s cannot be played gapless. Could these have been discs with mp3 files? And I know, for example that ChromeCast cannot play gapless, although, I’ve found a workaround for that. Or maybe it’s something else. Frankly I never heard the concept of gapless/non-gapless in the pre mp3 era.

Edit - Wikipedia tells me that the “TAO” recording format will create CDs with gaps. I’ve never come across one - at least where gapless makes a difference.

 

[Tsaraslondon]

First - you may get more responses (although you’ve received quite a few) in the Hi-Fi sub-forum of the recorded music forum.

My guess laser needs cleaning or adjustment.

On another note, I’ve probably owned and/or used at least 25 CD players. Prior to this thread, I’d never heard of one of one that couldn’t play gapless on regular CDs. Now I know that most mp3s cannot be played gapless. Could these have been discs with mp3 files? And I know, for example that ChromeCast cannot play gapless, although, I’ve found a workaround for that. Or maybe it’s something else. Frankly I never heard the concept of gapless/non-gapless in the pre mp3 era.

Edit - Wikipedia tells me that the “TAO” recording format will create CDs with gaps. I’ve never come across one - at least where gapless makes a difference.

I tried to find a more appropriate place to post my query, but couldn't find one. I didn't think of looking in the Recorded Music one.

On the subject of gapless, I can't understand why anyone would produce a player that didn't support gapless. Quite aside from classical music, there are quite a few pop CDs which are supposed to play straight through, with one track seguing straight into the next (Sgt Pepper anyone?).

 

[Tsaraslondon]

I'd like to thank everyone for their responses. I'm going to try @HenryPenfold's suggestion first, as its the cheapest and easiest. My lens cleaner CD should be with me today.

 

[jegreenwood]

I tried to find a more appropriate place to post my query, but couldn't find one. I didn't think of looking in the Recorded Music one.

On the subject of gapless, I can't understand why anyone would produce a player that didn't support gapless. Quite aside from classical music, there are quite a few pop CDs which are supposed to play straight through, with one track seguing straight into the next (Sgt Pepper anyone?).

My only theory (and it's only a theory) is that some cheapo CD players use DACs designed for mp3 players.

 

[Pietrolev]

I'd like to thank everyone for their responses. I'm going to try @HenryPenfold's suggestion first, as its the cheapest and easiest. My lens cleaner CD should be with me today.

after some annoyance I abandoned my large CD’s collection to its fate. I don't like streaming so I buy Loseless from online stores and I read the PDF covers enlarging the font because I'm in my sixties and my eyesight is bad. Sad but true.

 

[Tsaraslondon]

Thank you again for all the suggestions, but especially to @HenryPenfold. You might just have saved my quite a bit of money. My cleaning disc arrived today and, after using the cleaning disc in the player, I cleaned one of the discs that was jumping yesterday with the oil and cloth provided with the cleaning disc and it played perfectly. Fingers crossed that the problem is solved.