cd rot?

[asmox]

in my recent interweb travels, i stumbled across CD rot. i've never experienced this with any of my cd's, nor have i ever actually seen it in person.

has anybody here ever had this problem? i'm guessing it's pretty rare?

 

[RedLeader]

thats cool, anyone have one of those discs?

 

[daycart1]

I've heard very reliable testimony about this real problem. It seems to depend in part on how well the individual releases are manufactured.

I've seen it in only one of mine (bought NOS on ebay)--it is not yet too bad and still seems to play OK.

 

[OceanEnthusiast]

i've had the optical layer of foil (top layer) of the disc start to flake off similar to how old paint chips off a house.

fortunately it was a $25 SACD!!

 

[gratefulshrink]

Quote:

Originally Posted by asmox in my recent interweb travels, i stumbled across CD rot. i've never experienced this with any of my cd's, nor have i ever actually seen it in person. has anybody here ever had this problem? i'm guessing it's pretty rare?

I totally believe it. CD/DVD/whatever are mass-produced conglomerations of metal alloys and plastics and whatever that are subject to physical decay like the natural world. We lull ourselves into the false sense of security that digital data is "permanent".

What a laugh if all our CDs rot after 25 or 30 years shelf life, but your grandad's old '78s last for a thousand years (if they don't melt due to global warming, that is).

 

[Factor]

"CD rot" (or "laser rot") is when the layers of plastic in the disc aren't perfectly sealed and air seeps in, oxidizing the metal. Apparently it's much more common with laserdiscs than with standard 12cm discs like CD's and DVD's.

 

[zumaro]

I have quite a few Hyperion CDs dating from the early years of CD all showing signs of this. The disks appear quite brown, strongest at the edges. I had just been copying them onto CDR to preserve their contents, so I found it interesting that Hyperion on their website say that they will replace the defective disks.

 

[JefferyK]

Quote:

Originally Posted by zumaro I have quite a few Hyperion CDs dating from the early years of CD all showing signs of this. The disks appear quite brown, strongest at the edges. I had just been copying them onto CDR to preserve their contents, so I found it interesting that Hyperion on their website say that they will replace the defective disks.

What company manufactured them? CDs made by PDO during the early '90s are notorious for rotting and developing pinholes. Keep an eye out for CDs where the metal layer goes all the way to inside edge. Every single one I've seen has pinholes.

I have never seen a rotting or pinholed CD made by a different manufacturer whose defects couldn't be blamed on user mishandling.

Jeffery

 

[zumaro]

Yes they are all manufactured by PDO in the UK as far as I can see.

 

[aaroncort]

I have Had CD-R's rot before. Its starts around the edges and the bleeds inward. It sucks

 

[chillysalsa]

I had a Hyperion disc skip due to bronzing, and it was one that came from a PDO factory. Hyperion have information about the bronzing defect on their website, and offer the PDO mailing address for replacement disc. They replied to my email after a few days and I recieved a replacement for the disc.

This form of "CD rot" is not inevitable with all discs (maybe not within our lifetime anyway). It was just a bad batch of chemicals that was used at the time of production.

The lifespan of all discs are limited as well though, I bet up to 100 yrs is plausible.