Don't you guys worry

[incrediblehark]

not too worried about cds, but I will agree my floppy disk games do concern me.

[BigusSchmuck]

My Dragon's Lair CD for the Sega CD is already exhibiting this "rot." It still plays though, but you can't watch the intro without it completely locking up, its even got a tiny hole towards the middle near the center. I guess Sega CD games will be the first to go if thats the case.

[esteban]

I have a ridiculous amount of music on CD's and vinyl...both have been reliable, but CD's are maintenance free (thank goodness).

I do worry about the hardware (phonograph, CD player) breaking down (my tape deck died long before my cassettes, for example). I've experienced my share of mechanical problems over the past 30 years...mostly CD players and tape decks breaking down...

[SignOfZeta]

I've personally bought two copies of Cosmic Fantasy 1 that had "CD rot". You can see what looks like a water stain if you hold them up at the right angle. It's not the same as Laser Disks, but it does happen to poorly made disks.

Do this actually affect reading the disk though? I ask because discoloration of the aluminum layer is not uncommon and usually has no negative affect.

[grahf]

I've personally bought two copies of Cosmic Fantasy 1 that had "CD rot". You can see what looks like a water stain if you hold them up at the right angle. It's not the same as Laser Disks, but it does happen to poorly made disks.

Do this actually affect reading the disk though? I ask because discoloration of the aluminum layer is not uncommon and usually has no negative affect.

Yes. One of them takes 5 times as long to load new areas, and the other gets stuck loading the intro video. The disks are physically OK, except for the discoloration.

[RegalSin]

Cosmic Fantasy is a new kind of game, for a new kinda system. Earlier CD games all had thing like that, you described. I play it, and sometimes it appears to be locked up when loading a fight scene. The same could be said for some Hu-card games. That is how all videogames were.

Don't think about all of these theories about CD-rot. Also Floppy disks all can work great forever, if you take care of where you insert the disk. The same with tape.

Think about like this, if I left an egg outside a fridge would it spoil?

[soop]

Think about like this, if I left an egg outside a fridge would it spoil?

I'm not sure what you mean here.

[grahf]

Nobody does.

[esteban]

Nobody does.

Nobody ever will…  .

[majors]

Nobody does.

Nobody ever will…  .

...nor should.

[Arkhan]

That's true. We've reached a point in time where floppies are starting to drop like flies. Some of these things were manufactured as far back as like 1980, in certain cases it's amazing they still work at all. I have lots of 5.25" Apple // disks and a good number of them are no longer any good.

as long as the labels are still intact!

add a notch, write that shit back, rejoice!

[Mishran]

That's true. We've reached a point in time where floppies are starting to drop like flies. Some of these things were manufactured as far back as like 1980, in certain cases it's amazing they still work at all. I have lots of 5.25" Apple // disks and a good number of them are no longer any good.

as long as the labels are still intact!

add a notch, write that shit back, rejoice!

That doesn't always work. Sometimes the medium inside the floppy casing loses its ability to hold a magnetic charge and no longer able to read and write data. Happened to my lovely original Ultima I PC game. Still hold onto it, the box and all the goodies inside (the coins in the pouch are sweet) because I can't bare to part with it.

[futureman2000]

Think about like this, if I left an egg outside a fridge would it spoil?

I'm not sure what you mean here.

I assumed that he was saying that if something is not cared for, it is more likely degrade or expire.

[soop]

Think about like this, if I left an egg outside a fridge would it spoil?

I'm not sure what you mean here.

I assumed that he was saying that if something is not cared for, it is more likely degrade or expire.

I thought that too, but it implies that as long as eggs are refrigerated, they last forever?

[spenoza]

I have a CD with actual edge oxidation. It looks like a jagged brown edge around the disc working its way in. I only have one that suffers from that problem, thankfully. CDs are more sensitive to physical damage than, say, LDs or DVDs, however. DVDs and LDs have a plastic layer on both sides, but not CDs. CDs have a plastic layer on bottom, but on top there's just the material of the label and some sealant. If you get a scratch on the bottom of your CD, as long as it isn't too deep you can polish it out. Deep scratches might be fixable with a kind of filler. If you scratch the top of the CD, however, you are extremely likely to damage the data substrate, because there's so little protecting it from the top. I had to pass on a great deal on SamSho 4 on the Saturn because there was a small scratch on the top of the CD that clearly penetrated the data substrate.