The awful truth about CDs, do they have the same shelve life as LP's ?


The answer is properly not. Recent studies have shown that the chemicals used in their manufacture of CDs have reduced their life expectancy to ten years, not all but many, as per Paul Mcgowans email. The suggestion was given that if you have suspect CD's they should be re-copied. But my question is how do you identify these? I can tell you that I have a great deal of LPs and I can play anyone of these with great success and some are 40 years old. This no doubt would give some audiophiles another good reason to hold onto their belief that LPs are the way to go.
phd

Showing 2 responses by jeffstarr

The only fault I can find is that Paul may not have done much research, before his daily post. He may have received it from a trusted source.
It is not the first time I had heard about CD rot. But I always figured it had more to do with non audiophiles who don't handle their media with the respect that we do. CDs used in cars, stuck in those visor sleeves, leaving them  laying on the dashboards, exposing them to sun and heat. Oily fingerprints, on both Cds and LPs.
I have great respect for Paul McGowan, they run one the best customer service oriented businesses, I know of. I do believe a player is in the works, but they just recently released a new SACD/CD transport, so he certainly is not telling anyone it is time to move past physical discs .And it does tell you what the problems are. The OP's headline, reads like a tabloid headline, you'd see in a grocery store check out line.I read that post the day it came out, and I didn't find it overly dramatic, the sky wasn't falling.

If you have any CDs or LPs that can't be replaced by downloads or remasters, then it might be wise to make a few safety copies. If you have a decent AD converter, you can digitize LPs that will sound very good. To me it is one those mysteries, why don't commercial CDs sound identical to the master tapes, but I can digitize an LP, that sounds just like that LP, and I can remove the ticks and pops when necessary.

Paul McGowan is certainly not a flake. His enthusiasm is genuine.

I'm sure there are a few out there, but it is rare for audiophiles to not own at the very least a CD player, as there is a lot of good music that is not available on vinyl.
Yes, their systems will be optimized for vinyl. On the other hand, there are a lot of audiophiles who don't own turntables.
A very good AD converter can be had for a list price of $399, the HRT Linestreamer+. Go up to $2k and you have multiple choices, including Benchmark and many others.  PS Audio is closing out their current phono stage with built in AD converter for $1k.
I have digitized many of my favorite LPs, for convenience, and to preserve them. It is nice when wanting to play one or two tracks off an album, to just click on a few links, rather than having to cue it up. Of course digital files aren't going to give you the same experience as holding that album cover in your hands. I have vinyl that I purchased over 45 years ago, the records themselves are in mint condition, which I find very impressive, as they have been played on five different turntables with the first two, not being very good. Nobody is using a BSR mini changer and bragging about how great it is. But, surprisingly, those records, are in mint condition. The same can't be said for the covers. Glued seams have come apart, even with careful handling. So those albums have been digitized, and only get played rarely, as the digital copies through a really good DAC, sound good, very good.

As to dyes, I believe he was talking about the labels. There is no standard I am aware of with the materials used, and looking at them, the different textures, and colors, makes me think that some probably have dyes in them.
Read the other posts where they talked of the labels changing color.

When I mentioned enthusiastic, I was referring to new products, and differences that may be much easier to hear on their reference system, than on a mid level or entry level system.