CD deterioration

MilkyJoe

I've got a cd that I was selling on eBay which was selling for £10 (a similar one I sold just went for £31). I thought I'd listen to it again before selling it but the sound quality was really bad so had to cancel the auction. It worked fine last time I listened to it and hasn't been out the case since. Is there any way I could get it repaired? I'm pretty sure it would sell for at least £20, maybe more.

superscaper

You could try a CD repair kit etc to try and fix any light scratches. (Even Brasso and toothpaste supposedly can work).

MilkyJoe

I've tried cleaning it. I don't think it's because of any scratches or marks because it is in very good condition and worked fine last time. I was thinking it could be that the reflective material thing has deteriorated. Don't know though. Now it sounds like it's being played from an old cassette tape. What causes cds to do that?

MilkyJoe

It also stops playing for a couple of seconds then picks up where it should be playing. I've looked at it and it looks like it has some little holes in the reflctive material. Would recoating (if that's even possible) help and be cheap?

superscaper

Have you tried it in another player? (could be the lens needs cleaning). The reflective material doesn't really deteriorate for a very very long time unless the CD was extremely badly made in the first place. If it really has deteriorated then you're losing the actual data itself so there is no recovery/repair from that.

MilkyJoe

I've tried it in my pc and it's the same. The cd is about 10 years old and
does look cheap; quite see-through. Probably why it's quite rare now (it was only available to R.E.M. Fan Club members).

evilgoose

Early CD's havent got a great shelf life, (home written ones have a life expectancy of about 10yrs), ive had a couple where the coating has come off which have been kept in my car.
I honestly dont know if you can re-coat it.

vyseyboy

If it's bubbled / got holes in the reflective material, I'm afraid it's screwed.

I haven't ever heard of it happen to pressed original CD's, but there were a lot of bargain-basement CD-R's that did this back in the day, although less so now. It was because cheaper CD-R's cut corners on protective coatings on the top (i.e. non-data) surface, leaving the reflective layer prone to damage.

MilkyJoe

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esbo

Would have ben sensible to have backed it up, perhaps?

Marty_J

esbo wrote: »

Would have ben sensible to have backed it up, perhaps?

Well maybe he did, but he can't sell it on eBay if it's only a backup.