Re: [ARSCLIST] ? about Burning CDs for archives

[Don Cox <doncox@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

On 18/08/04, Mike Richter wrote:

>> I have seen reports that black CDs (ie made of black plastic) give
>> better results and may have a longer life. I haven't been able to buy
>> any of those yet, and again they no doubt vary.
>
> You can also see reports that green (or red) marker on the edge
> improves the sound, that silver (or gold) sounds better, and so on ad
> infinitum. There are WWW pages devoted to urban legends. Please check
> there before passing along the unmeasurable and inaudible claims.

The claim is that the difference is audible. I said "reports" because I
haven't tried them.

However, there is an analogy with photographic film. The sharpest films
have anti-halation dye behind the emulsion, dye in the substrate, and
some dye in the emulsion itself. All this is to reduce scattered light.
As burning a CD is a photographic process, it is not unreasonable that
similar advantages would occur.

If the dye also absorbs the light (probably UV) that causes fading of
the written disk, it could increase the life of the disk.

So I think the physics is plausible, and the reports are worth
mentioning.

Regards
--
Don Cox
doncox@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx