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The awful truth about CDs, do they have the same shelve life as LP's ?

The answer is properly not. Recent studies have shown that the chemicals used in their manufacture of CDs have reduced their life expectancy to ten years, not all but many, as per Paul Mcgowans email. The suggestion was given that if you have suspect CD's they should be re-copied. But my question is how do you identify these? I can tell you that I have a great deal of LPs and I can play anyone of these with great success and some are 40 years old. This no doubt would give some audiophiles another good reason to hold onto their belief that LPs are the way to go.
phd

Showing 1 response by rshak

rshak
416 posts
 
I have bought CD's since the beginning of the format and have about 3,000 of the things.  A handful (4 or 5) have, indeed, deteriorated to the point they are unplayable.  Interestingly, all save one are Hyperion products. All of the bad ones exhibited bronzing on the label side (the once silver color turned to a copper or bronze hue).  

The most recent casualty came to my attention about a week ago: Hyperion CDA 66423 (The Marriage of Heaven and Hell by Gothic Voices).  This is a 1990 recording that I bought new about the time of its release.  Last Sunday I picked it off the shelf for the first time in many years.  My old but reliable Eastern Electric MiniMax CD player could not load it, nor could I load it on my MacBook Pro.  

Perfect sound forever?  Not quite in this case.
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