bluesfool

How many of us have encountered numberous scratched cds? Most of my cds I have purchased are used and/or out of print and forced to purchase what is available at the time. Even iTunes and Amazon don't have mp3s for most of these so called out of print. Searching over the web I have found toutorials of repairing scrathed cds by using such items as tooth paste, banannas, and even eggs. What method do you use? Of all the nearly thousand cds I have collected through out the years, I have only had to replace aproxmanly six cds. I know the other option would me only purchase mp3s, but as I mentioned, most of my music is out of print and not available in mp3.

Janszoon

I used to use the toothpaste method—and it works pretty well I have to say—but I can't remember the last time I bought a CD so it doesn't come up much for me these days.

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LoathsomePete

Sometimes used CD stores having this little machine that puts a glossy finish on scratched CD's to make them work again, I would suggest asking around. Game stores also sometimes have them, so they're another place to try.

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Mojo

I worked briefly in a games shop and yes, the machine they have there does work well. It carefully removes the top layers of the underside of a disc until it's smooth.

I've always used toothpaste, which I believe just fills in the tiny cracks and allows it to run smoothly again. It's usually worked for me.

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bluesfool

I also want to point out that I was recently listening to a particuler cd, on track #2 the cd stops playing. Although my player is actually a dvd player, it's connected to the cd outlet. However, if I play the same cd on my computer there is no problem. Even after trying the tooth paste method, the cd still gets stuck on track #2 at 1:06 on the dvd player. I know some cd players are very sensitive, maybe this can be the case. It gets me down that I'm worried that this can happen to my other cds. I hate to relace the cds-and there is no guarantee that replacing them that the newer purchased cd is going to work.

s_k

Toothpaste. But a more careful method (and I'm not talking **** here) is to take a green permanent marker and make the edges (around the center and around the whole disc) of your disc green.
It's very common amongst audiophiles to colour your discs that way. Somehow this causes the CD player to read less errors. For those of you who don't know; A CD player makes loads and loads of mistakes but it 'makes up' bits of music. If it can't make up music anymore, you'll hear a sharp 'tic!' or the CD will skip.
Anyway, when you have a perfectly good CD and colour the edges green, the CD will indeed sound better. Not on your laptop or on a all-in-one-stereo-set, but if you're pretty serious into audio, you will indeed hear the difference.
Using this philosophy, I once coloured the edges of a damaged Windows 2000 installation CD. And there you go, the PC could read the file.
Same goes with scratched CD's. It can just make that little bit of difference .
If that doesn't work; Toothpaste.

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RMR

Sounds like a good method. All CD's wear out over time. I've found that if I load a CD into itunes, and then re-burn it onto a new CD-- it fixes most of the skips, or at least it lets the CD play through without getting caught up.

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bluesfool

Yes, all cds do wear out in time. I have replaced my share of extra copies. I have occasionally been known to rip a copy of a cd to save 'wear-and-tear' from the original. I might as well face it, digital is the future for music if I agree with it or not, until something else replaces it. Digital I don't have to worry about scatches or skips. I'll still purchase cds for the liner notes that you don't get with digital.

Guybrush

Sounds kinda weird. This site has that down as a false urban legend.

link : Urban Legends Reference Pages: Music (Bewaring of the Green)

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s_k

I know. There's so much truth and untruth in audio.
I just don't care what others say, when I hear the difference, it's there.
Fortunately others hear the difference too, so I don't seem like a total idiot amongst people who know what they're talking about .
There will always be people who will say that it's non-sense, but there's also people who claim mp3 sounds better than vinyl. And there's also people who claim there's no audible difference between loudspeaker cables. I've given up trying to convince them.
I did put the bit about the Windows CD in for a reason. This proves the CD becomes more readable from painting it green. It works with other colours too, by the way. I've just been told green works best, I've never tried how big the difference is. First time I tried it it was a CD-R and a red marker. Still audible difference .

I'm not sure why this works. I do understand that, the less "autocorrection" a CD player uses, the better it sounds. That's a fact. And it's also a fact that the CD becomes more readable with the green line.
The only thing I can't prove is the audible difference. I know what I hear. The first time I tested it I was sceptical, so I took a CD-R and started doing the dishes . Even then I could hear the difference. It's actually pretty big.
Doesn't mean I colour all my CD's green. CD's are just there for me as a 'backup' or when I can't get the vinyl. I usually don't play CD's that much

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