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Try to train them...again, or simply shoot them?

I would assume I am not the only one to have experienced this.  A friend, mate, relative or relatives friend damages a  lp or CD disk.

No matter how much I have tried, it is usually time not well spent.  I just got my CDs back from my son.  They were all fine and in "jewel" cases...some mofi.  Well they, son and girlfriend, decided to put them in a vinyl carrier.  The disks slide into a pocket and now most disks have scratches...which get worse taking them in and out of the "carrier"...and most have fingerprints/food on them.  

This is a high fidelity/stereo software concern I have had all my life.  Loaned some LPs to a friend, many "special" pressings...and yes, they came back damaged......don't you just love added ticks, pops and skips?

I have had a little success with the cd/sacd disks by giving them a bath...that will get rid of the food and fingerprints, but does nothing for the new groves across the playing surface.

Whomever said, "perfect sound forever" .....if they are not already dead, perhaps some kind of punishment, like listening to a David Lee Roth disk skip for a few years. 

Oh and, perhaps you have had luck, but trying to explain how to safely handle a LP or Disc is very much like trying to tell a politician how to be honest.

 


whatjd
pgaulke60
299 posts
 
Ever since High School I have had a rule to not let my LPs out of my possession.

I was at a used Record Store some time ago and the guy was "polishing" CD's playable side with a machine that looked like the what you use to buff out your shoes.  A short soft cotton rotating wand thing.  He was buffing out surface scratches on CDs to make them look like new.  Not sure that is a good thing or a bad thing, but it was an interesting observation.
dweller's avatar
dweller
3,781 posts
 
Just had an idea... Whenever discs are returned damaged, buy new ones and give the old ones to the returner for Christmas (Festivus, whatever)...
nm_mac
5 posts
 
It wasn't the reason I did it, but I've just added this to the original list of reasons why I ripped my CD collection, put it into safe storage, and now only play from the files.  
bob540
407 posts
 
I like the idea of making copies of CD’s and giving the copies to people who ask to borrow.  I wish I had done that a few times.  Obviously, some people care for things and some others do not — not even their own things.  No one I know plays records anymore — they don’t even have a record player.  So I don’t get requests to borrow those.  But some still play CD’s.  Fortunately, others’ tastes in music seldom match my own, so I get few requests there either.

When I come across a CD that is scratched, but not too severely, I have had success using a method I found on-line:  white tooth paste. You want the plain white kind, not the paste with other colors or crystals.  I wet the CD with water, apply a pea-sized glob of the paste and rub it in using my fingers, going over any places with obvious scratches.  Then rinse off the paste with water, pat dry and play it to see if it still skips.  Sometimes I need to go over it a second time.  It doesn’t always work, but it usually has.
dweller's avatar
dweller
3,781 posts
 
FWIW, The shiny side of a disc is quite robust. It's the label side that's fragile.
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