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]