CDs And Green Markers. Please Don’t Laugh.
I’m sorry. I apologize. If anything has been done to death, it’s this. And yet . . .
I was pulling “Darkness On The Edge Of Town” out of my CD player the other day and wondering if Bruce had really made peace with his father when I noticed the edge of the disc was green. Looking through my collection, I found a bunch of them so marked. “Let It Be” by The Replacements. “Murmur.” Stuff that came out during the brief period after the introduction of the CD and before the green pen became an embarrassment.
I should give a quick kudos to the albums that have survived countless culling that keeps my active collection at about 500 discs. Discs that are easily stored because I always take the discs and printed media out of the ridiculous plastic “jewel” cases and put them in DiscSox, an invention I can’t believe has been overlooked by the Nobel committee. 500 discs fits into five trays from Office Depot and the whole collection takes up about 16x30 inches and the height of a CD. I can’t imagine living with the original packaging.
I never A/B’ed any of the albums with the green marking. Never looked into the science of the green pen. Back in the day, it was cheap, it was easy, and it was supposed to work. Why not try it? When it became a laughingstock, I stopped.
But like skinny ties, I assume that green markers have come in and out of vogue many times since 1982. I love a good tweak and wonder if anyone has justified the use of the green marker. I’m not looking far a scientific explanation. Herbie’s Super Black Hole actually works but without anything close to a reason for doing so. I’d be thrilled if the same was true if green pens.
Besides, those looking for science in audio forums should familiarize themselves with a priori reasoning, and the problems attendant upon it.
Where have I gone? Why so much wandering? Is it because the initial question is so stupid? Still, I’d like to know: Has anything happened since, say, 1985, that would make greening the edge of CDs sensible?
If not, I promise to apologize and slink quietly back into the darkness.
The so called science has to do with the laser hitting the pits and bouncing throughout the disc under the label. Greening the edge mostly contained it. I found and tried many treatments. The best IMO is New Dark Matter, which is thin dark mica looking squares that the user cuts to fit the tray. Comes with double sided adhesive to secure to the tray.
hth |
Last month I had to clean the plastic headlight lenses of an older Ford Taurus. I bought a Turtle Wax kit, "Headlight Lens Restorer." Inside is a bottle called Spray Lubricant. This works great on both sides of a cd. Cost of the kit is less than $20. The final treatment consists of applying and removing Chisto products, wiping with carbon fiber material, treating both sides with a Walker Talisman, and a 10 second stint on top of a Schumann Resonator, music side-down. Magic. |
Science doesn't agree and nor do lots of actual people, including the editor of Stereo Review and High Fidelity with his actual measurements. https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/bewaring-of-the-green/ |
