From: eas3714@ultb.isc.rit.edu (E.A. Story)
Subject: Re: Do CD's degrade?, and DCC questions
Originator: eas3714@ultb
Organization: Rochester Institute of Technology
Date: Mon, 28 Sep 1992 21:03:51 GMT

In article <1992Sep25.235239.19465@sol.ctr.columbia.edu> crgoc@orlando.uk.cray.com (Gary O'Connor) writes:
>Keywo 
>  No doubt as soon as I do this We'll be inubdated with people telling
> me I'm wrong. What the hell here goes.
>
> I personally have been collecting CD's since about `86, and have about
> 200.

Wow!... but then.. since '86 sounds about right.  

> I regulary read Hi-Fi magazines and have never heard about problems with 
> storage causing degradation.

Good...phew! (hehe)

> I clean mine with a clean dry cloth, to eliminate dust and small marks, or
> if somebody else has got hold of it and really dirtied it, then I use
> things called cd wipes ( like  "wet-ones"), there not brilliant and sometimes
> leave a bit of residue (but this comes of later with a dry cloth).

Si, standard practice it seems...

> Apparently technics make a Good automatic cd washer, thats recommended by
> a lot of magazines. The things battery powered and uses wet and dry pads
> to clean the disc as it spins.

I'm always wary of those types of things.. I always feel like its gonna
start putting circular scatches on my Cd's.

> The ink used for the label can cause deterioration over time 10-20 years.

Interesting... should we all scrub the ink off?.. CAN you do that?..

> Do keep them clean though, it does make a difference, as DOES the green pen
> rubbish, if you have a reasonably good Player and reasonably good hearing,
> then you will notice a difference, but now we are getting into the realms
> of alt.audiophile which should be avoided at all costs.

What is this Green Pen stuff?  I've never heard of this.. do we mark all
over the CD with green pen? (hehe).. seriously, what is it?  Is there a
FAQ for this group, anyway?

> As an aside, a few years ago I bought a couple of ex-juke-box cd's for
> about 50 pence each. I got them home and put them on the 16-bit player
> I had a the time, and a lot of the tracks just jumped or would'nt play
> at all.
> Recently I aquired a Rotel RCD865, which is a bitstream player, both
> disc's and all tracks played without incident, It was very difficult
> to believe they were the same discs. The quality was'nt what you'd expect
> of a brand-new clean disc, but I was still amazed.
>
> Of by the way, the laser head can also get dirty, after a few years of play
> or a few months, if your disc are full of shit, when you play them.

I've had my player for a couple of years and its starting to get REAL
sensitive to being moved...  It this a result of a dirty head?.. I'm a
semi-novice with the workings of CD audio equipment...

> You can buy a head cleaner from a good hi-fi shop.

Do I need to open the case up and manually clean the head?  Or is it
like a "furry" CD that does it?  Just curious.

> There are all kinds of products to help get the most from CD's, from the green
> pens, and weighted rings for the label side, which improve sound quality to
> cleaners (manual & automatic) and soft pads for the inside of boxes (they 
> protect the playing side whilst in the box) to help maintain quality.

Green pens, weighted rings?.. IS there a FAQ for this group?



-- 
"THAT is a DRY turtle.  That turtle is NOT moist!"
Ezra Story, a student at RIT, and
eas3714@ultb.isc.rit.edu, his trusty(?) mailing address.
Newsgroups: rec.music.indian.misc