1001001$o$*&^$#@!

I know I know, it's another post about music stuff but hey, at least I haven't done a Cubs post in awhile.

Remember when the CD first came out and how all the experts said they would last forever as long as you took care of them? Even the notoriously cranky Steve Albini--a vinyl purist--had the following to say about CDs:

This compact disc, compiled to exploit those of you gullible enough to own the bastardly first generation digital music system, contains all-analog masters. Compact discs are quite durable, this being their only advantage over real music media. You should take every opportunity to scratch them, fingerprint them, and eat egg and bacon sandwiches off them. Don't worry about their longevity, as Philips will pronounce them obsolete when the next phase of the market-squeezing technology bonanza begins. When in five years, this remarkable achievment in the advancement of fidelity is obsolete and unplayable on any "modern" equipment, remember, in 1971, the 8-track tape was the state of the art.

--Liner notes from the appropriately titled Big Black CD 'The Rich Man's 8-Track Tape" (which is excellent, btw)

In the early 90's, technology experts began to tell us that CDs weren't as everlasting as orginally thought and that the aluminum used to hold the data was prone to corrosion and subsequent degradation of sound quality and eventually some would be unplayable. WXRT even exploited this mania a few years ago as an April Fools Prank in which they mentioned the phenomenon and proceeded to have a few of their discs conveniently 'breakdown' mid-song as a gag.

Well, I'm here to tell ya, the shit is actually happening. I've been ripping CDs like a madman lately and I've discovered a handful of CDs in various states of degradation. About a year ago, I was listening to Urge Overkill's Supersonic Storybook in my car, which has a notoriously fastidious CD player and it started 'dropping out'. Not the digital hiccups we've come to expect with fingerprints or scratches, but full-on dead-spots and a few songs wouldn't even play or cue up.  I just figured it was the player, but when it came to rip the CD, it wouldn't work. So far it's been only a half dozen or so, but they're obviously CDs with songs I'd like to hear again. It's been limited--so far--to Indie-label CDs that are at least a decade old, which I would imagine would result from the smaller labels using cheaper CD duplicators, but I sure hope it's a limited problem.

Has anyone else experienced this sort of problem?  Or will this be one of those Ken posts that languishes all weekend with maybe a comment or two until I put something new up Sunday?

Comments

[Jeff]

I don't think I have any CDs that old - in fact I have very few store-bought CDs as I have only ever spent money on vinyl.

Anyhooters, my old ripped CDs (c1997) are starting to 'pit'- they get little dark circles in them which are like mini tie-dyes and completely kill the music. Apparently you're not supposed to touch them or something - but I've never been good at following directions...

[Kent]

I've only had that problem once, when trying to rip a Hüsker Dü album recently, but the CD still plays in my player. I'm very anal with my CDs so maybe that helps.

There is a simple solution though - download the songs for free. Seems fair to me if you have already purchased the CD. You can then "reconstruct" the CD and burn a new one.

I love vinyl and I like the ease of MP3s, but let's face it, vinyl goes bad and many MP3s sound crappy and digital. I'm still standing behind this crazy CD fade. I think it's still the best option around.

Although, I did hear you can catch the bird flu from CDs!

[Mr. Blue]

I'm almost embarrassed to admit this, but I recently purchased The Best Of Carly Simon collection on CD. No nicks no cuts or scratches in the CD, but skips on every track, on all of the CDS. So I returned it to the record store. Picked up another collection, got it home, same thing. Third time, I'm thinkin, "Hell, there's got to be one CLEAN copy out there that was cut, no?"
Got that one home. Nope. Brought that third one back. By then, the sales dept manager comes out to ask me what my !@%^iung problem is. I tell him I don't know. But every CD from that Carly Simon collection skips. They skipped at home & they skipped in the store. So, finally, I'm thinking #4 has GOT to be the charm. I get that home, get this - there's NOTHING on ANY of the CDs, Ken! Mrs. B. deduces, "The karmic gods obviously do not want you to listen to Carly Simon. Ever."
It's a communist plot...

[Jeff]

I agree with Kent - if you own a CD which has gone bad you actually have the right to go and download it - although it might be tough to find UO...

But I don't agree about vinyl - not only does it keep (when it's quality vinyl) but its so much more engaging. I'm sure you know what I mean - how cool was the Season 2 opener of Lost with the Mama Cass record? Now imagine that with a CD or mp3 - dudsville...

[Brad]

I recently ripped all of my music to FLAC (300 + GB) and encountered the exact same problem Ken. In fact, one of the cd's that wouldn't rip was...Supersonic Storybook. I ended up downloading the ones that wouldn't rip but the downloaded files are obviously highly compressed mp3's which defeats my original intention of ripping everything to lossless. So sad.

[Kent]

Jeff, I totally agree about vinyl. It is my favorite format in most ways and I have a rather sizable collection. It’s sad to think that kids today will never know the joy of buying a new record, putting in on the turntable and lying on the floor to study the album art for the entire duration of the record. That activity does not work with any other format.

If you have the right setup vinyl sounds the best for sure and vinyl will last if taken care, however there is no getting around the fact that literally every time you play a record the grooves get worn out and the quality is ever so slightly reduced. I have searched long and hard for certain records only to find a copy that skips or looks like it was stored in a sandbox. I love the sound of a few quiet pops here and there but sometimes it’s just too many.

To me CDs are a necessary evil. Plus my records are taking up an entire room and they suck to move.

[ken]

Well, I'm glad I'm not the only one who's had this problem. And yeah Mr. Blue, it's probably best to just back away from the Carly Simon CDs.

Funny Brad, that we had the same problem with the exact same CD. I ended up finding a friend with a newer copy and ripping their copy of SSS. Still a great record.

And I'm right there with everyone on vinyl. It's still is a great format and I too was one of those people who sat down on the floor and read all the liner notes and credits the first time I bought an album. I also still remember Kent's super-cool limited edition of Speaking in Tongues on vinyl. But as a few mentioned, it is all about convenience. As much as I love vinyl (just bought a Technics Turntable to replace my old B&O in April) I can't really take my vinyl along on an airplane or in the car, so CDs or Mp3s is has to be.

[Kate]

I had a digital preservation class where we talked about this.

Apparently nobody really knows how long most CDs are supposed to last, even under ideal conditions. We've heard 20 to 100 years. Which is kind of a big range.

Some types are supposed to last as long as 200 years, but the manufacturers are the only ones who've done research on that.

[Jeff]

Who said you can't take vinyl with you on the road??

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0002ABOFS

So on my Christmas list this year...

[ken]

A digital preservaton class, that sounds really cool. At the risk of sounding old, Media Studies classes are light years ahead of what I took only fifteen years ago. Hell, we actually CUT tape, with RAZORS in my day.

[Kate]

yeah, basically the class was about having Rand people and National Archives consultants come talk and give us scary, quotable facts about how quickly digital media will become useless and how expensive and uncertain all the solutions are. It was awesome. i forget a lot of the numbers now, though.

[MottViopish]

Hello users from gapersblog.typepad.com !!! Help to me pls!
Fu**! Prompt me what codec I need?
In any way I can not look this clip (Britney :-) )
I use Nero PlugIn for burn CD-s. Only legal!

[immemaWicirty]

At Halliburton/KBR, sexual assault is just part of the workplace experience for women Like many viewers, I watched this ABC 20/20 report when it first aired in December with jaws-open, eyes-bugging horror. It told the story of two women workers for Halliburton/KBR who had been sent to Iraq. There, one, Jamie Lee Jones, a young computer tech, was gang-raped on her fourth day by coworkers after being drugged; the other, Tracy Barker, was sexually assaulted by a State Department employee. Both immediately reported their assaults, only to have KBR first lock them in isolation, then question their accusations. In the case of Jones, it even "lost" the medical report that documented evidence of gang rape.
Click on a small picture to see shocking photos: