CD Rot (is it rot, or is it not?)

In this post I want to talk about disc rot, specifically CD rot.  I have googled this phenomenon and have found some sites saying that rot is pure rot (i.e. there is no such thing as CD rot), and others saying it is limited to certain pressing plants at certain times that used inferior materials or processes.  In my experience neither of those are true.

Although by some standards I am a fairly modest collector of music, I have been collecting music since the late 70s in many forms, but mostly vinyl (somewhere north of 600 albums to date) and CD (a bit over 1000 titles).

A couple of years back I went to play an Alan Parson's CD, Try Anything Once, and found the CD player would not recognise the disc.  I pulled the disc out and examined it, to find strange small see-through sections, that kind of resembled an invisible growth eating away at the aluminium layer.  Last year I eventually sourced a second-hand copy online to replace the affected copy (I still have the unplayable disc for some macabre reason).  I forget now where and when I purchased the original, as I deleted the purchase record from my database once I replaced it.  The booklet was printed in the U.S. and the disc itself mentions Columbia House.  Both the disc and booklet mentions Arista Records, and the booklet also mentions BMG.  I know I belonged to BMG in Canada a few times, and prior to that I think I was with Columbia House as well, so this could have been purchased when I was living there (and certainly prior to 2009 as the mail-order club ceased to exist then).  The replacement second hand disc does not mention Columbia House on the disc and seems to be in good condition, leading me to speculate that Columbia House pressed their own discs and perhaps had a fault in the manufacturing process.

Alan Parson's Try Anything Once with its small random patches of rot.

More recently, I purchased a new, extended, CD copy of Visage's eponymous debut album (from Rubellan Remasters for anyone who is interested) and decided to try and sell my original CD.  Upon checking my older copy (in preparation for selling) for any signs of damage, I was shocked to see multiple snaky marks coming in from the outer edge as well as some markings moving out from the centre hole.  I played it to see if the playback was affected - it wasn't - before listing it for sale online, clearly stating the situation in the description; it has yet to sell.  I don't recall when or where I purchased my original copy from (as I deleted the entry from my database upon getting the new disc), but as I have a vinyl copy from 1981 it would have been during the period when my vinyl collection was in storage and inaccessible, which was between 1989 and 2015.

Visage Visage and the rot edging in from both inner and outer edges.

A week or so back I was rifling through my CD collection to find something that I was in the mood to listen to, and settled on a couple of Radiohead CDs I had not listened to in eons.  Right next to those, on the shelf, was my one R.E.M. album, Document, so I decided to throw that in for a spin.  It too showed signs of rot, but did play through without issue.  I had purchased this in 1993 from Sunrise Records at Dixie Mall, Mississauga, Canada.

R.E.M.'s Document has multiple instances of rot creeping in from all around the outer edge.

I was now a little perturbed, having found severe CD rot on 3 albums, so thought I needed to check out the condition of other CDs in my collection.  I began with the Zs, and started working my way in reverse through the alphabet, playing any discs I saw damage on.  So far I have discovered a few, albeit less affected, discs.  I will update this post as I work my way (backwards) through my collection.  To date, the only unplayable disc was the Alan Parson's one mentioned at the top of the post.  I am not saying all of the discs I feature here are a result of disc rot, but they have all deteriorated in some way (or they were manufactured with some faults), and some examples may be friction from the CD player holding onto the centre of the disc.

XTCs The Compact XTC, purchased in 1987 in New Zealand, location unknown.

XTC's Compact shows deterioration along the outer edge, at the bottom left of the disc

David Wilcox' How Did You Find Me Here, purchased in 1996 from HMV Yonge St, Toronto, Canada.

David Wilcox' disc has some pretty rot snaking out from the centre hole

The second disc of Roger Waters' The Wall Live in Berlin purchased in 1997 from BMG Canada

Possibly an early sign of rot: a tiny V-shape at the very bottom of Roger Waters' live disc

3rd October Update (finished early Ws to part-way through the Vs today)

 

A disc of a collection of classical Greensleeves pieces by a variety of orchestras, purchased in 1991 from Marbecks in Auckland, New Zealand has a tiny dot of growing rot which, currently, does not affect play.

Note: the tiny octopus of rot near the bottom edge

I also discovered my copy of Van Halen's Balance has a pin-head sized aberration through the aluminium layer (but not the label), close to the centre of the disc, but outside the clear "ring" which I presume separates the table of contents from the songs themselves, so likely in the area where track #1 would be.  The anomaly is perfectly circular and did not affect play in any way, even though you can see light through the spot from either side of the disc.  I'm guessing it is intentional as part of the pressing somehow, and not an example of rot (I believe this was done on some pressings of discs to try and prevent ripping in the past).  It was purchased in 1995 from CCDC (which I'm guessing is my abbreviation for Columbia House CD Club) which would have been in Canada.

Van Halen's Balance with a pinhole aberration below the centre hole in the silver layer

 

4th of October update (I did from the mid Vs to partway through the Ss)

I spent a bit of time today going through more CDs and have finished about 20% of the jewel-case-sized container portion of the collection (the larger, mostly 30cm square boxes will be examined afterward).  I did not find anything terrible, but I have found some small patches of possible rot.  I also noticed a number of discs with a spray of dirty spots over them (as you will see shortly); most of these were on the playable side of the disc, but a few also had spots on the label side.

 

I have four 2-disc sets of the Thompson Twins, and I noticed that those discs showed what could either be slight deterioration around the outer edge of the aluminium layer, or it could have just not been smoothly created/cut upon manufacture, as it was not perfectly circular.  Because I can't tell which (at least until possible rot gets worse) I am not considering them for deterioration in this list yet.

First up with something that could be rot for today is the Tea Party's Edge of Twilight disc with a small patch of damage just south of the centre hole, as well as some deterioration of the aluminium layer around the outer edge.This Tea Party disc was purchased in June of 1995 from HMV at Sherway Gardens Mall, Toronto.

A tiny spot of damage at the south edge of the inside circle

Then I saw Koko Taylor's Force of Nature was purchased in February 1997 from the BMG music club Canada, and it has considerable corrosion around the inner edge of the aluminium.

Koko Taylor's Force of Nature is slowly being eaten away at the middle

I have a Supertramp CD called Classics Volume 9 and, like the aforementioned Thompson Twins CDs, on the outer circle of the aluminium was not perfectly smooth (with some small inconsistencies) but could not for sure say it was early signs of rot.  It may get worse over time, but I chose to leave out that particular title, but it was purchased in April of 1995 from BMG music club Canada.

My Steely Dan's Greatest Hits CD was starting to show some minor signs of rot along the inner edge.  This was purchased in June of 1994 from HMV on Yonge Street in Toronto.

Steely Dan's Greatest Hits with it's minor damage at the inner edge

The soundtrack of So I Married an Axe Murderer had some beginnings of rot on the outer edge.  This was purchased in December of 1993 from HMV at Sherway Gardens Mall in Toronto..

Mike Myer's loses a little integrity: a small patch left of south of centre and along the bottom outer edge

I mentioned at the beginning of today's update that I had noticed spots of dirt on some of my CDs.  Here's a good example of the label side of the soundtrack to The Piano, which I cleaned (the playable side also had similar dirty spots, but not as bad).  Here's both a before and after shot.

The weird dirty spots on The Piano

And the same CD after a quick clean

6th October update (completed all of the Rs through to mid Ss)

Working my way through the Ss takes a little longer, as that letter of the alphabet tends to have more artists (in part because it contains all of the "soundtrack" CDs, in the same way that V contains all of the "various" CDs).

The soundtrack to A Clockwork Orange had a dark dot in the playable area that was below the plastic surface.  You can see it in the following photo about 1 cm down from the inner ring.  Needless to say, it did not affect playback.  This was purchased in December of 1991 from Marbecks in Auckland, New Zealand.

A Clockwork Orange's small mystery hole

The Smiths ... Best II had a tiny squiggle of rot drawn at the outer edge.  The Smiths ... Best I did not.  Purchased in May of 1993 from the Columbia House CD Club.

The second of The Smiths Best of CDs has some doodles appearing at the bottom outer edge

The Smashing Pumpkins Melancholy and the Infinite Sadness had some rot around the centre ring on the 'twilight to starlight' disc.  Purchased in January of 1996 from HMV on Yonge Street, Toronto in Canada.

I'm melancholy about this centre deterioration of the Pumpkins CD

I have a 5-disc Sisters of Mercy collection - the type that are in cardboard sleeves and all slot into a narrow cardboard case.  Like some of the aforementioned Thompson Twins double disc sets, the outer edge of the aluminium layer on three of the five Sisters discs was not smooth, but whether that was rot or a pressing fault, I can't tell, so I'm leaving them out for now.

I have two Siouxsie and the Banshees Greatest Hits CDs, the discs titled Once Upon a Time and Twice Upon a Time.  They both had tiny pinpoints around the outer edge, and Once had additional beginnings of tiny rot around the centre.  Once was purchased in December of 1991, Twice was purchased in January of 1993, both of them from Marbecks in Auckland, New Zealand.  Interestingly, there is a cardboard sleeve that goes around both CDs, and would have come free with one or other.  At one point in the past one of these 2 CDs was not recognised by my player, but both play fine now.

Twice Upon a Time's edge wear/damage

Once Upon a Time's centre wear/damage

I  have boxsets of both Paul Simon as a solo artist, and of Simon & Garfunkel as a duo.  In the Paul Simon one, the album Songs from the Capeman has some minor damage at the outer edge.  Purchased in December of 2018 from Amazon Germany.  So far, this is the most recent purchase I've come across with any sign of damage.

Paul Simon's CD has tiny damage at the bottom outer edge

Shriekback's The Dancing Years has some minor damage beginning around the centre hole.  Purchased in March of 1992 from Marbecks in Auckland, New Zealand.

Close to the centre hole of this Shriekback CD is signs of damage, or wear and tear

11th November update (working my way backward through the Ps)

It's been a while since I've had time to post in this blog - I spent all of October doing sketches for Inktober (you can see them at my (a)RtistRyk blog using the link in the menu top left), and I also got a job - not a great one as it's minimum wage, but it's income and living off my savings was edging toward becoming stressful, so my time is currently limited.

Anyway, enough personal shite, on with the rot.

The Ps in my collection might be the largest single letter representation in my CD collection, and are made up mainly by Prince, Presley, and Pink Floyd.  I thought I would breeze through them without problems, but that was not the case. 

The first case of possible rot was on my extended CD single of Letitgo, where I observed two whitish dots on the playing surface.  From some angles the dots look black.  It doesn't look like any rot that I've encountered before, so I'm hoping it is just a defect in the pressing.  I've played the CD and it plays fine; I just hope that things don't get worse over time.

Prince's Letitgo maxi single

Onto the "Hits and B-Sides" 3CD set.  All three had numerous pinhole aberrations scattered over the surface.  I am currently playing the third (the B-Side) disc and so far it has played fine.  The dots are south-ish of the centre spindle in the images below.

Disc 3

Disc 2

Disc 1

Things went downhill from there...

Next up was my CD containing 9 different Cream remixes.  As soon as I saw the CD I thought it would never play.  It was looking as bad as my Alan Parsons one that started this whole blog and research.  This is a CD that I immediately thought I would never be able to replace (and if I could, I imagined it would be expensive) but the Discogs site shows some for sale from just over NZ$5!  This is kind of a favourite of mine (sue me, I like the song).  Strangely, despite the intensive damage, the CD played through - there must be a lot of redundancy built into the tracks on this CD.  I would think it's playable life will be short-lived though.

Prince's Cream remix CD that appeared to be unplayable, but miraculously wasn't.

I also own the Cream CD single (which contains 2 tracks not on the aforementioned remix collection), which also had beginning signs of rot.

Prince's 3-track Cream CD single with minor damage just south of the centre

Next up was Prince's "New Power Generation" CD single.  It wasn't looking too hot either.

Some pretty obvious damage to the New Power Generation

I was getting a bit down by this point, with the extensive damage to the Prince discs.  One last one for today was my 3-inch CD single (it needs a plastic adaptor to bring it up to size) of Alphabet Street.  I'm not looking forward to checking the remainder of my Prince collection.

A small dot near the south edge