CD-R's sound "muddy" over time?

[GameFan72]

Hi. Hope someone can help me. I have a really annoying problem with music
compilation CD's I make for myself. When I first make them, everything plays
perfect and there are no problems. Then, I will put the CD away for a long time
and when I listen to it sometime in the future, it will suddenly have a "muddy"
or "glitchy" sounds towards the LATTER tracks (the first few still play fine).
I can tell you I am very careful with the discs and never get anything on them,
not even a fingerprint. I have tried to record at the slowest possible speed
and this problem still occurs. I have used different brands of CD-Rs and it
still happens. Could it be weather conditions? Sometimes I do leave discs in my
car. But, why is it only the latter tracks that are ever screwed up? Maybe its
that I put the paper labels on the discs? However, again, why doesn't the
problem show up right away? Well, any help would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks.

[Dale Farmer]

GameFan72 wrote:

> Hi. Hope someone can help me. I have a really annoying problem with music
> compilation CD's I make for myself. When I first make them, everything plays
> perfect and there are no problems. Then, I will put the CD away for a long time
> and when I listen to it sometime in the future, it will suddenly have a "muddy"
> or "glitchy" sounds towards the LATTER tracks (the first few still play fine).
> I can tell you I am very careful with the discs and never get anything on them,
> not even a fingerprint. I have tried to record at the slowest possible speed
> and this problem still occurs. I have used different brands of CD-Rs and it
> still happens. Could it be weather conditions? Sometimes I do leave discs in my
> car. But, why is it only the latter tracks that are ever screwed up? Maybe its
> that I put the paper labels on the discs? However, again, why doesn't the
> problem show up right away? Well, any help would be greatly appreciated.
> Thanks.

Couple of possible causes. Mainly heat and physical damage. The
dyes in CDRs are susceptible to heat. ( the heat of the laser is what burns
the data into the dye layer. ) Leaving them in a car on a hot sunny day is
a recipe for massive bit destruction. The actual data is on the top label
surface of the disk, underneath the label. All that is protecting the data
is a rather thin coating of ink. Some stick on label adhesives don't like
that ink. Scratches and so on will go right through the ink to mess up the
data. Eventually you lose enough bits that the error correction can't
keep up and then you lose data.
When you burn a CD for yourself, burn a spare and leave that in
a cool dry place. Use that as a master when the other one gets
flaky. Any disk you put into your car should be considered
expendable.

--Dale

[wkearney99]

> Could it be weather conditions? Sometimes I do leave discs in my
> car. But, why is it only the latter tracks that are ever screwed up? Maybe
its
> that I put the paper labels on the discs? However, again, why doesn't the
> problem show up right away? Well, any help would be greatly appreciated.

Discs playback from the inside out, unlike records (for everyone that
remembers those).

Heat will most certainly affect recordables. And it'll happen more over
time.

Make two discs, keep on at home at room temperature and away from any
significant changes in heat. Compare it against the other one kept in the
car. If the house disc isn't degraded over time then you've got your
answer; the heat of the car is ruining the outer tracks. Eventually it'd
ruin in inner ones too.

Labels can affect the discs. When making your test disc consider making
ones with and without labels. I've heard tell of some labels causing
trouble but can't cite anything specific. I generally find that since CD-Rs
used for the car are disposable that it's usually pointless to bother
labelling them. If anything I just print up a text label and stuff that in
the sleeve.

-Bill Kearney

[GameFan72]

Thanks to Dale and Bill for both your replies and suggestions. It seems that
extreme temps from the car is the only logical explanation for the CD-Rs
getting messed up over time. I guess it would make sense that the latter
(outer) tracks would get messed up first. I am going to take your suggestions
and make backups from now on which never leave the house. I'm only going to use
them to make copies if my frequently played versions get ruined. I'm also done
with paper stick-on labels on the actual disc. They look neat, but I don't have
to impress myself. I can just write on the top side of the disc with a sharpie
or whatever ("MIX CD #1"). Thanks again.

[Jodster]

How in the !$#* can a digital source sound "muddy"? The problem lies in the
way your car CD player handles the missing or corrupt data. We're not
dealing with magnetic media here folks. It's digital.
Anybody ever have any WOW or FLUTTER from their CD's ;-)

Peace,

Jodster


"GameFan72" > wrote in message
...
> Thanks to Dale and Bill for both your replies and suggestions. It seems
that
> extreme temps from the car is the only logical explanation for the CD-Rs
> getting messed up over time. I guess it would make sense that the latter
> (outer) tracks would get messed up first. I am going to take your
suggestions
> and make backups from now on which never leave the house. I'm only going
to use
> them to make copies if my frequently played versions get ruined. I'm also
done
> with paper stick-on labels on the actual disc. They look neat, but I don't
have
> to impress myself. I can just write on the top side of the disc with a
sharpie
> or whatever ("MIX CD #1"). Thanks again.

[wkearney99]

> I am going to take your suggestions
> and make backups from now on which never leave the house.

Well, start by making one or two as reference samples. Burn two copies and
leave one inside. Put the other in the car in places you'd normally use for
storage. Although if it's winter season where you are now the heat may not
cause it as quickly as might happen in summer.