Norman M. Schwartz ([log in to unmask]) wrote: >A plant in Italy, "OPTI.ME.S" also produced CDs which have bronzed. >Several discs in my collection on the affected Nuova Era label have >similarly become noisy and unplayable. Unfortunately in this case after >I contacted the importer/distributor they were unwilling to provide >replacement discs nor make any adjustments at all. Also Arkadia from the same factory. I know several people who have nicely bronzing copies of Horenstein's Symphonie Fantastique - alas available from no other source. Still, that's what CD burners are for and I've at least managed to salvage the symphony, if not the couplings. Deryk Barker [log in to unmask] [The known Arkadia discs are listed at the site along with the PDO discs. I sould mention that there's a potential longevity problem with CD-R and CD-RW discs (i.e., those that are used in CD burners). These discs use a fundamentally different technology from the commercially available stamped CDs we've been talking about so far. A photo-activated dye layer is used to record the information on a CD-R or CD-RW. The long-term stability of this dye has been questioned, and tests seem to indicate that a lifetime in the range of 10 to 20 years is to be expected before data loss starts to occur. Last I heard the national association of archivist (or some such group) had decided to recommend agaist using CD-R and CD-RW discs for archival purposes because of this limited life. Your mileage may, of course, vary. -Dave]