Disc Rot?

[MR.MAGOO]

Trying to weed out my collection of CD's, DVD's, LP's. Took a few DVD's to a store which buys / sells all kinds of media. They rejected the few I took due to 'disc rot' The clerk explained "it's like an apple will rot faster if you leave it out instead of putting it in the fridge". The DVD's all played fine but I guess I need to start freezing my entire collection to prevent it rotting away.

 

[Verdinut]

Trying to weed out my collection of CD's, DVD's, LP's. Took a few DVD's to a store which buys / sells all kinds of media. They rejected the few I took due to 'disc rot' The clerk explained "it's like an apple will rot faster if you leave it out instead of putting it in the fridge". The DVD's all played fine but I guess I need to start freezing my entire collection to prevent it rotting away.

A few years back, I bought an opera on Blu-ray on the Deutsche Gramophon label. When I tried to replay it last year, it wouldn't play. I wrote to DGG about it and they replied that this Blu-ray disc was no longer produced. They told me that the batch in which that BD disc came from was defective, but did not even apologize for the situation, and neither offered a discount coupon. Since I loved the performance, I went and bought the DVD version which is still available and works fine.

 

[TLS Guy]

Trying to weed out my collection of CD's, DVD's, LP's. Took a few DVD's to a store which buys / sells all kinds of media. They rejected the few I took due to 'disc rot' The clerk explained "it's like an apple will rot faster if you leave it out instead of putting it in the fridge". The DVD's all played fine but I guess I need to start freezing my entire collection to prevent it rotting away.

You got told a massive "porky". Some CDs to get a type of rot on the reflective silver layer. it appears as 'golding'. This affected certain brands more then others. Freezing actually makes it worse.

I have lost a number of my older CDs to this problem. There is no known way of stopping it.

 

[Bobby Bass]

I’ve had the same issue with CDs I took out of the jewel box and put in portable cases to take on the road. I took them all out of the old portable cases when I noticed it since they don’t leave the house anymore anyway. No issues with ones that stayed in their original jewel box.

 

[highfigh]

You got told a massive "porky". Some CDs to get a type of rot on the reflective silver layer. it appears as 'golding'. This affected certain brands more then others. Freezing actually makes it worse.

I have lost a number of my older CDs to this problem. There is no known way of stopping it.

Have you ever tried to polish the bottom of a disc? Did the bottom of the Aluminum appear darker than other discs? What about the failure- was it the whole disc, or just in certain areas? If it's the whole disc, it may be that the area covering the Table Of Contents is damaged.

 

[TLS Guy]

Have you ever tried to polish the bottom of a disc? Did the bottom of the Aluminum appear darker than other discs? What about the failure- was it the whole disc, or just in certain areas? If it's the whole disc, it may be that the area covering the Table Of Contents is damaged.

No it is not the surface but the aluminum data layer. At first the discs skip and then will not play at all. Certain brands and plants are more prone than others.

 

[highfigh]

No it is not the surface but the aluminum data layer. At first the discs skip and then will not play at all. Certain brands and plants are more prone than others.

Do you see patches of porosity or loss of sheen?

The damaged areas must be fairly large- when CD players became available in the early-'80s, we demonstrated their ability to play when the disc had a wedge of electrical tape that was about 1/2" wide at the outside.

Are you playing these with a CD player or BD player? Since BD players can focus on a much narrower area, maybe it's missing some good reflective parts of the layer.

 

[TLS Guy]

Do you see patches of porosity or loss of sheen?

The damaged areas must be fairly large- when CD players became available in the early-'80s, we demonstrated their ability to play when the disc had a wedge of electrical tape that was about 1/2" wide at the outside.

Are you playing these with a CD player or BD player? Since BD players can focus on a much narrower area, maybe it's missing some good reflective parts of the layer.

This is a well known issue. The plastic is fine. It is the aluminum layer. I have five disc players in the house and one pro CD player. Those discs skip on all and also can stick and repeat, like old LPs can. LPs are actually more durable long term.

 

[Tankini]

Yes, disc rot is a real thing, WB (Warner Brothers) are well known for this. Doc is correct, the aluminum coating is the issue. I have two disc that has happened to them. Blade Runner 2049 4K Blu-ray and GOT 4K Blu-ray.

 

[lovinthehd]

Disc rot is rare, very limited issues out there with it. I have yet to own any disc (out of close to 2000) suffer from such.

 

[TLS Guy]

Disc rot is rare, very limited issues out there with it. I have yet to own any disc (out of close to 2000) suffer from such.

You are correct. It is rare. I have a few discs that have this, and I have a large collection of CDs. I think it is plant specific as I understand it, and not particularly label specific as they used different plants from time to time. Unfortunately it has affected my CD boxed set of the Vaughan Williams symphonies under Sir Adrian Boult. Luckily I have it on LP. I bought the CD set in case of problems with the LPs. but the LPs have had a longer life.
It is a definite problem though, and you have to wonder if more discs will show this problem as time passes.

 

[lovinthehd]

You are correct. It is rare. I have a few discs that have this, and I have a large collection of CDs. I think it is plant specific as I understand it, and not particularly label specific as they used different plants from time to time. Unfortunately it has affected my CD boxed set of the Vaughan Williams symphonies under Sir Adrian Boult. Luckily I have it on LP. I bought the CD set in case of problems with the LPs. but the LPs have had a longer life.
It is a definite problem though, and you have to wonder if more discs will show this problem as time passes.

Maybe I'll run into it some day. I don't worry about it with CDs much as I rip them on receipt and keep multiple backups.

 

[lovinthehd]

Yes, disc rot is a real thing, WB (Warner Brothers) are well known for this. Doc is correct, the aluminum coating is the issue. I have two disc that has happened to them. Blade Runner 2049 4K Blu-ray and GOT 4K Blu-ray.

How sure are you about buying original discs from Warner?

 

[TLS Guy]

How sure are you about buying original discs from Warner?

It must have something to do with the quality of the aluminum. That Vaughn Williams set wa on the EMI label and made in the Philips Eindhoven plant in Holland, which was the best in the business. So this is really random.

 

[Squishman]

There is no known way of stopping it.

Put it on your iPod before old man time comes a knockin!

 

[Bobby Bass]

Agree I was ripping a new CD I got last night. Makes it easy to get when needed too.

 

[lovinthehd]

It must have something to do with the quality of the aluminum. That Vaughn Williams set wa on the EMI label and made in the Philips Eindhoven plant in Holland, which was the best in the business. So this is really random.

Seems the layer is either aluminum or silver alloy on blu rays, wonder if it matters particularly or if it lies simply in the quality of production

Yes, disc rot is a real thing, WB (Warner Brothers) are well known for this. Doc is correct, the aluminum coating is the issue. I have two disc that has happened to them. Blade Runner 2049 4K Blu-ray and GOT 4K Blu-ray.

I have the Blade Runner regular old Bluray with no issues fwiw