"David" wrote in message
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What affect do scratches have on a CD?

Depends on the scratches and the player.

I have some CDs that have
minor scratches and they seem to have no affect on the play of the CD.

It is quite possible that the errors caused by the scratches are 100.00%
corrected and there is zero effect on sound quality.

In my experience, a scratch has to be pretty deep for the CD player
to skip.

Often, the case.

What affect (if any) do scratches have on a CD?

Is skipping the only way they can affect the play?

Either 100% of the data is recovered, or there is lost data which the player
tries to conceal.

Are they worth fixing?

That's up to you and your ears.

Is there any way to tell by looking at the scratch if it will affect the
play?

Probably takes more effort than it is worth.

What about ripping a CD onto your hard drive? Will some
scratches affect this?

IME a good ripping program like EAC or CDEX will get 100% recovery from CDs
that have tics and pops when played on a regular CD player.