4 ms·

A few years ago, my daughter got a turntable for Christmas and I started taking her to record stores. While I was there I realized that I too liked physical med

A few years ago, my daughter got a turntable for Christmas and I started taking her to record stores. While I was there I realized that I too liked physical media, but vinyl just wasn't my thing. I did have a hundred or so CDs in the attic. Maybe it was time to see if they were still any good? Turns out, CDs are pretty durable. Even though my attic gets crazy hot in the Texas summer, none of the CDs (some 35 years old!) failed. Next thing I needed was to buy a CD player (again). I was somewhat surprised by how few companies are still making players, but I got an Onkyo unit that I'm happy with. Now I have a pretty great sounding setup and I have little booklets to examine while I listen. Browsing the collection for something to play is fun. I'm back to buying CDs and it's actually a great time to be buying this stuff. New and used is cheaper than ever (lots of stuff is the same price it was 30 years ago) and so much stuff is available online and off. I love going to Waterloo Records in Austin and flipping through the stacks to buy a couple titles from my list and probably another title or too because I liked the artwork on the case or the guy at the counter recommended something. I also bought a small bookshelf system for my desk because popping in a disk then having some music for maybe an hour then having to get up to change it works well for me. If I'm streaming from Spotify I end up working for too long, often unproductively. Taking a break every hour or so and shifting my attention (take the dog outside, make some tea, change the CD, then back to work!) seems to help my problem solving skills. I look at it as a healthier version of a cigarette break. The only problem I've had with my disks is that a couple of them seem to not be balanced perfectly and they make a bit of mechanical noise in the player as they spin.

beefok 4y ago
This is a testament to how well Reed-Solomon encoding/decoding [1] can detect and correct errors! I remember even heavily scratched cd's would work if you cleaned them with toothpaste of all things (?) [2] This is unlike blowing an NES cartridge, which actually had a detrimental effect due to blowing spit on the pin contacts and oxidizing them.. [3] I do remember Babbages/KB Toys/etc did actually sell NES/SNES/Gameboy cartridge cleaning kits though [4]. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cross-interleaved_Reed%E2%80%93Solomon_coding https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cross-interleaved_Reed%E2%80%9... [2] https://www.google.com/search?q=clean+cd+rom+toothpaste https://www.google.com/search?q=clean+cd+rom+toothpaste [3] https://www.denofgeek.com/games/nes-cartridge-blowing-air-urban-legend-myth-history/ https://www.denofgeek.com/games/nes-cartridge-blowing-air-ur... [4] https://www.thevintagegamers.com/2012/11/vintage-gaming-cleaning-kits/ https://www.thevintagegamers.com/2012/11/vintage-gaming-clea...
- Sharlin 4y ago
  You can indeed polish all sorts of things (aluminum, silverware, car headlights…) with toothpaste. It's an abrasive.
  - germinalphrase 4y ago
    For what it’s worth - Sensodyne uses a finer grit abrasive than many other brands. Might be a better choice if trying to repair cd scratches.
    - acuozzo 4y ago
      The US Sensodyne (sans Novamin) or the regular Sensodyne that every one else gets?
      - germinalphrase 4y ago
        I am in the USA. Wasn’t aware there are different types under that name.
        monetus 4y ago
        Novamin turns into hydroxyapatite, like in Japanese toothpastes. Fluoride and nanohydroxyapatite work better together than either alone, for carries at least. The approval process is too expensive to get through here, even though nanohydroxyapatite is used regularly in many countries.
- Lammy 4y ago
  > I remember even heavily scratched cd's would work if you cleaned them with toothpaste of all things (?) I've had even better results with this three-step stuff that's actually meant for plastics, with most scratches not needing more than step 2: https://novuspolish.com/ https://novuspolish.com/ That works great for bottom-side scratches, but sadly it's not usually possible to repair any damage done to the label-side of a Compact Disc due to proximity between the label and the reflective data layer underneath. It's really common for well-intentioned people to remove discs from a drive and (in absence of the case) set them upside-down to "protect" them not realizing it's the worst possible thing they could do. All-over-print labels add an extra margin of protection over discs that leave the label's negative space as bare disc silver: https://cdn.hswstatic.com/gif/cd-crosssection.gif https://cdn.hswstatic.com/gif/cd-crosssection.gif
bombcar 4y ago
The enforced break is one of the nicer things about old-time music (beyond consuming an album at a time).
- criddell 4y ago
  > beyond consuming an album at a time That's the other thing I realized - I love finding great albums of music rather than individual tracks. Concept albums are especially great.
alisonatwork 4y ago
I used to have a large CD collection. I bought them and I sold them. I bought second-hand and new. It was fantastic. And then one day I moved overseas and one of my CD boxes got lost in the mail. And then, some other day, the bottom box of my CD boxes that were temporarily stored in a basement got flooded and destroyed. Now I don't give a shit about CDs. I have unapologetically pirated the music from CDs that I used to own but got lost or destroyed, and for all my new music I bought it online and back up the digital files to the cloud. I'll never lose music I paid for again. CDs are legacy media for a reason. All other legacy digital media will follow it, except for the small group of people who fetishize it for nostalgic reasons. There is a tiny argument that still exists for buying legacy analog media - the "it sounds warmer" argument. But honestly, you could just pipe your digital files through a filter and get the same effect, so, meh.
- chiefalchemist 4y ago
  Were you listening to those CDs or eating them for breakfast?? It's a world 7B+ strong, there's room for everyone. Even those who like to appreciate holding a music medium in their hands. It's ok. You can move on.
  - PaulDavisThe1st 4y ago
    Is there, though?
- criddell 4y ago
  > There is a tiny argument that still exists for buying legacy analog media - the "it sounds warmer" argument. There are more arguments than that. For some people, it's all about collecting and community. For others, they love the large format artwork. I'm not playing analog media, but I still like the physical interaction part. Many of us also like that, for some artists, buying a record is a way of supporting them. Then there's the fact that playing a record or CD doesn't require an internet connection and that means nobody is tracking the records you play today in order to better sell things to you tomorrow. There's also the gear part - it's an excuse to put together a great audio setup. For those of us who still buy physical media, I don't think the "it sounds warmer" argument is terribly common. All of this stuff is fun. There's not a lot of joy in tapping "dylan blonde" into a search box and pressing play.
neverartful 4y ago
It's great that your CDs in the attic weren't damaged. However, please don't store your CDs there. Since you're in the Austin area you might also want to check out Astro Records in Bastrop (30 minutes east). Very friendly and knowledgeable owner. Vinyl is the bulk of his inventory, but he also has a decent collection of CDs for sale.
- criddell 4y ago
  I've been there! The wooden bar in there is amazing. The attached bookstore is pretty nice too if you like a certain type of book.
bob1029 4y ago
> I love going to Waterloo Records in Austin Adding this to my list. I've definitely ramped back up into the CD game myself. I think I have spent $2k between la-la-land and Discogs this year already... The biggest catalyst for this was Spotify removing content from their platform, presumably due to licensing issues. I don't like the idea that someone could memoryhole a piece of art that I had previously experienced.
- acapybara 4y ago
  Is there an app out there that tracks which things have been deleted?
  - fzzzy 4y ago
    An app? How about a website?

beefok 4y ago

This is a testament to how well Reed-Solomon encoding/decoding [1] can detect and correct errors! I remember even heavily scratched cd's would work if you cleaned them with toothpaste of all things (?) [2] This is unlike blowing an NES cartridge, which actually had a detrimental effect due to blowing spit on the pin contacts and oxidizing them.. [3] I do remember Babbages/KB Toys/etc did actually sell NES/SNES/Gameboy cartridge cleaning kits though [4]. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cross-interleaved_Reed%E2%80%93Solomon_coding https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cross-interleaved_Reed%E2%80%9... [2] https://www.google.com/search?q=clean+cd+rom+toothpaste https://www.google.com/search?q=clean+cd+rom+toothpaste [3] https://www.denofgeek.com/games/nes-cartridge-blowing-air-urban-legend-myth-history/ https://www.denofgeek.com/games/nes-cartridge-blowing-air-ur... [4] https://www.thevintagegamers.com/2012/11/vintage-gaming-cleaning-kits/ https://www.thevintagegamers.com/2012/11/vintage-gaming-clea...

Sharlin 4y ago
You can indeed polish all sorts of things (aluminum, silverware, car headlights…) with toothpaste. It's an abrasive.
- germinalphrase 4y ago
  For what it’s worth - Sensodyne uses a finer grit abrasive than many other brands. Might be a better choice if trying to repair cd scratches.
  - acuozzo 4y ago
    The US Sensodyne (sans Novamin) or the regular Sensodyne that every one else gets?
    - germinalphrase 4y ago
      I am in the USA. Wasn’t aware there are different types under that name.
      - monetus 4y ago
        Novamin turns into hydroxyapatite, like in Japanese toothpastes. Fluoride and nanohydroxyapatite work better together than either alone, for carries at least. The approval process is too expensive to get through here, even though nanohydroxyapatite is used regularly in many countries.
Lammy 4y ago
> I remember even heavily scratched cd's would work if you cleaned them with toothpaste of all things (?) I've had even better results with this three-step stuff that's actually meant for plastics, with most scratches not needing more than step 2: https://novuspolish.com/ https://novuspolish.com/ That works great for bottom-side scratches, but sadly it's not usually possible to repair any damage done to the label-side of a Compact Disc due to proximity between the label and the reflective data layer underneath. It's really common for well-intentioned people to remove discs from a drive and (in absence of the case) set them upside-down to "protect" them not realizing it's the worst possible thing they could do. All-over-print labels add an extra margin of protection over discs that leave the label's negative space as bare disc silver: https://cdn.hswstatic.com/gif/cd-crosssection.gif https://cdn.hswstatic.com/gif/cd-crosssection.gif

bombcar 4y ago

The enforced break is one of the nicer things about old-time music (beyond consuming an album at a time).

criddell 4y ago
> beyond consuming an album at a time That's the other thing I realized - I love finding great albums of music rather than individual tracks. Concept albums are especially great.

alisonatwork 4y ago

I used to have a large CD collection. I bought them and I sold them. I bought second-hand and new. It was fantastic. And then one day I moved overseas and one of my CD boxes got lost in the mail. And then, some other day, the bottom box of my CD boxes that were temporarily stored in a basement got flooded and destroyed. Now I don't give a shit about CDs. I have unapologetically pirated the music from CDs that I used to own but got lost or destroyed, and for all my new music I bought it online and back up the digital files to the cloud. I'll never lose music I paid for again. CDs are legacy media for a reason. All other legacy digital media will follow it, except for the small group of people who fetishize it for nostalgic reasons. There is a tiny argument that still exists for buying legacy analog media - the "it sounds warmer" argument. But honestly, you could just pipe your digital files through a filter and get the same effect, so, meh.

chiefalchemist 4y ago
Were you listening to those CDs or eating them for breakfast?? It's a world 7B+ strong, there's room for everyone. Even those who like to appreciate holding a music medium in their hands. It's ok. You can move on.
- PaulDavisThe1st 4y ago
  Is there, though?
criddell 4y ago
> There is a tiny argument that still exists for buying legacy analog media - the "it sounds warmer" argument. There are more arguments than that. For some people, it's all about collecting and community. For others, they love the large format artwork. I'm not playing analog media, but I still like the physical interaction part. Many of us also like that, for some artists, buying a record is a way of supporting them. Then there's the fact that playing a record or CD doesn't require an internet connection and that means nobody is tracking the records you play today in order to better sell things to you tomorrow. There's also the gear part - it's an excuse to put together a great audio setup. For those of us who still buy physical media, I don't think the "it sounds warmer" argument is terribly common. All of this stuff is fun. There's not a lot of joy in tapping "dylan blonde" into a search box and pressing play.

neverartful 4y ago

It's great that your CDs in the attic weren't damaged. However, please don't store your CDs there. Since you're in the Austin area you might also want to check out Astro Records in Bastrop (30 minutes east). Very friendly and knowledgeable owner. Vinyl is the bulk of his inventory, but he also has a decent collection of CDs for sale.

criddell 4y ago
I've been there! The wooden bar in there is amazing. The attached bookstore is pretty nice too if you like a certain type of book.

bob1029 4y ago

> I love going to Waterloo Records in Austin Adding this to my list. I've definitely ramped back up into the CD game myself. I think I have spent $2k between la-la-land and Discogs this year already... The biggest catalyst for this was Spotify removing content from their platform, presumably due to licensing issues. I don't like the idea that someone could memoryhole a piece of art that I had previously experienced.

acapybara 4y ago
Is there an app out there that tracks which things have been deleted?
- fzzzy 4y ago
  An app? How about a website?