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Does anyone know about putting marker on CDs?

I have been given a large number of CDs to sell. Many of them appear to have black marker around the edges. One has green marker in the center. Does anyone know if this would have been done on purpose as some kind of enhancement perhaps? I am wondering if this is a known practice or if I should consider all of these CDs as damaged.
smoler2016
mofimadness's avatar
mofimadness
4,982 posts
 
Here are a couple of articles.  It was a wide spread practice in the late 1980's & 1990's.  Many believed in it and many didn't.

http://www.stereophile.com/reference/590jitter/

http://www.snopes.com/music/media/marker.asp

They are not "damaged" in any way.  They should still play fine.
geoffkait's avatar
geoffkait
23,365 posts
 
Just for the record (no pun intended) the colors on the CDs you acquired are actually reversed and that will unfortunately hurt the sound of all of the CDs, rather than improve the sound. Green ink should be only used on the outer edge and black ink only used on the inner lip around the spindle hole. No wonder he got rid of the CDs. You can remove the offending ink with isopropyl alcohol.


smoler2016 OP
1 posts
 
Don't want to think ill of him. He didn't actually get rid of them. He passed away. His wife gave them to me. I thought the grandkids got into them but she assured me they did not. So I went on a marker information hunt. I must admit I am surprised to find this practice. Usually when I treasure something, I keep it in pristine condition - like books - I would never make a mark in them.

I have so many CDs that I cannot clean them so I will just note it when I will sell them. I hope the impact to price makes them still worth the selling effort.

Thank you for the information.
mofimadness's avatar
mofimadness
4,982 posts
 
"the colors on the CDs you acquired are actually reversed and that will unfortunately hurt the sound of all of the CDs, rather than improve the sound."
IMHO, it doesn’t matter one way or the other, but it certainly won’t "hurt" the sound.

Many actually started using black or purple to color CDs with, instead of green.
geoffkait's avatar
geoffkait
23,365 posts
 
Mofimadness wrote,

""the colors on the CDs you acquired are actually reversed and that will unfortunately hurt the sound of all of the CDs, rather than improve the sound."
IMHO, it doesn’t matter one way or the other, but it certainly won’t "hurt" the sound.

Many actually started using black or purple to color CDs with, instead of green."

Using black on the outer edge is a big mistake. Purple is not, even though the color purple makes no sense, you know, what with the color of the CD laser and everything. Bet you a cup of coffee you never heard of anyone using orange. Just to confuse you a little bit more even the color of the CD label affects the sound and usually for the worse. Why? Answer at 11.

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