CD Quality & Weather Conditions

As I remember hearing somewhere a CD should have an expected life span of at least 20 years. (I guess higher)
Manufactures guess maybe 100 years.
This is when the aluminum may start to oxidise.
The oxidisation will only be accelerated if the disc is subject to extreme heat (like in direct sunlight for long periods) so as long as its well manufactured you are gonna make the disc unreadable with scratches well before it rots.
If your keeping it in the car its probably more likely to get stolen before it rots!
CDR/Ws are a slightly different story due to different manufacturing process but buy good ones and I guess you’ll have no problems.

No one actually knows as CDs are not really old enough to start failing yet.

I’ve had a few instances when burn’t copies of CD’s have become unlistenable after being in my car for a while. I assumed it was because of excess heat in my car particularly as it has a heavy tint and Aussie summers are commonly over 30 degree (celcius). Anyways thats one few reasons I’m so paranoid with CD’s – I prefer to burn a copy of a CD as soon as I buy it and listen to the copy, and I never lend out the original to ANYBODY – yes I am a little overprotective & looney but I love my music

[quote quote="Chunkycoldmedina":1z03y04u]
Ive had CDR’s that the aluminum has started peeling off after a couple of months. This is what happens when you buy a cake of 100 from a market stall for £5!
Buy a reputable brand and you will have no problems.[/quote:1z03y04u]

Chunky, you are spot on.. I’m a sucker for those cheap generic 100 pack’s. But hey if one damages on you there’s another 99 to use (assuming that you do own the original)

I remember seeing a TV programme years ago (sometime in the early 90s) saying you should keep CDs refridgerated – lasers are hot, so keeping them cool before you use them preserves them. I don’t keep all my CDs in the fridge, obviously, but it has helped in the past when CDs have skipped a lot to whack ’em in the fridge for 10 minutes before copying them.

yeluhz strongs wrote:

Hey, I was wondering if leaving your CD’s in your car can get damaged due to the changing weather conditions from Winter to Summer. Does the CD deteriorate (in a sense)?

for me,thats a major yes!i do the summer season in kavos (corfu) and i replace my cds every summer.the heat gets into the 40`s,its hot n sticky & humid lots of the time.i use the blue tdk`s which are generally robust enough,but most have had a rough trot by september.i reckon beer and sweaty/greasy hands dont help much either.or the alcohol for that matter…

leaving them in direct sunlight is definitely damaging, i’ve done it before