Why are CD's decling in quality?


When CD came out in the 80's , they were marketed as 'indestructible'. They were built in such a way that they were almost impervious to any scratches and other damage.
As time went on, they declined in quality to the point that you could buy a cd and find it skipped on the first playing. Now many CD's I buy in the 21st Century seem to be incredibly vulnerable to damage. This is very frustrating.
.Does anyone have any suggestions or thoughts on this topic?
Or knowledge of why this has come about
acidfolk
I actually have not experienced what you describe ... I have CDs from 1986 (the first year I purchased CDs that look and play like they did the day I bought them. The only issue I have had with skipping on first play seems related to the transport/player not the CD. Lasers get slightly misaligned and everything goes haywire.
Not sure what to make of your experience. I've not noticed any increased propensity for damage to cds. I buy mostly classical music, wonder if that is a factor (are production facilities the same for different genres of music)?
I have to say I have never had the experience you describe. Perhaps its your player that is weak, at fault here? I have had a total of 3 CD players, none do what you have seen. Started with the original Proceed player, then a Marantz CD/SACD, then final is a Luxman CD/SACD D06. I have CDs from before I had a CD player (that's what caused the jump to digital, music I wanted was not on LP) up to this week, never had this issue. I have several thousand discs, many genres.
They are quite durable but not indestructible. The
designers did a very good job with the technology of the
time (which has improved vastly since) for CDs to still be
where they are 30 years later.

How many gadgets designed 30 years ago are still relevant
and so widepsread?
I have not found the quality of the modern CD disk to be inferior over time. That said, buying prerecorded CDRs is a different story; it's buyer beware.
But, I think others will share my practice of treating a CD as I treat my vinyl, with kid gloves.