On 12 Jun 2003 20:08:19 +0200
Anders Johansson
On Thu, 2003-06-12 at 20:00, Constant Brouerius van Nidek wrote:
Copies ;-(. Is not a copy an exact mirror of the original?
I should hope not. Most CD-players won't spin backwards :)
Seriously, a copy of a CD that you burn yourself is rarely of as good quality as one produced commercially. I'm not sure of the technicalities behind it, but for one thing, a CD you burn yourself doesn't have the protective layer over the surface that a commercial CD has.
Also you need a stronger laser to read copies. Many old cdrom drives can't read copies, as can't many cdplayers. When you go buy better cdplayers, they will be marked "cd-copy compatible". The reason is the "pressed cd's" have really well defined pits, whereas the copied cds just alter some reflective property of some chemical. There is a need breed of laser for reading it. The most likely culprit is "thin film" on the laser lens, either caused by dirty environment, or being around smokers or kitchen greasy smoke. You can pull the cdplayer apart, and squirt some lens cleaner on the lens. Never rub it with a q-tip, it may scratch. Use a can of electronic cleaner, squirt it, and let it air-dry. Also, you might get better reads if you clean the cd itself. I have to clean mine often, as I get thumb-prints on them from pulling them out of the cd jackets. :-) -- use Perl; #powerful programmable prestidigitation