Re: [ARSCLIST] Some questions on long-term storage of audio CDs

[Jon Noring <jon@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

Richard Hess wrote:

(First, thanks for reply!)


>>1) What are the degradation mechanisms of typical commercial audio CDs
>>    and how can they be mitigated?

> There is research by NIST (I believe) and others -- I don't have the 
> references handy, but there are major reports on this and I think 
> IASA TC04 has some of this in it.

O.k., thanks. Wikipedia has some discussion of this, but the original
studies will have much more authoritative information.


>>2) Since most commercial audio CDs use standard "generic" jewel boxes,
>>    our thoughts are for each such CD to remove the contents (the disc
>>    and all paper inserts) from the jewel box (which will be recycled),
>>    and place the contents into a sleeve or bag (like a Zip-Loc?).

> I don't think this is a good idea. The "generic" polycarbonate? jewel 
> case is part of the CD system and keeps the disk safer than anything 
> you proposed. There are polypropylene? archival jewel box 
> replacements available from  Stil Designs in Quebec that was the 
> subject of a long discussion on this list back in February. I would 
> not use anything that came in contact with the optical surface OR the 
> print surface of the CD. There are just too many risks.

Ok, thanks. This does make sense. I'll have to look at the Stil
Designs case, but I think for the short-term we'll just use the jewel
cases that come along with the CDs.


> If you wish to avoid any degradation products from the paper possibly 
> damaging the CD then that can be stored separately using archival 
> paper storage techniques -- a well-known science.

Yes, this was a concern of mine -- that some paper inserts could
themselves interact with the CD disc. So using a thin case, and then
storing the paper (like insert, tray label, etc.) would be done
separate from the case, but still with it in a larger case or sleeve.


>> 3) Barcodes. I notice that the vast majority of commercial audio CD
>>    releases I've seen going back a number of years all have bar codes.
>>    I assume these barcodes could be of great advantage for cataloging
>>    purposes?

> Yes and you could also grab the "Gracenote" (ex CDDB) record for the 
> commercial CD if you wished.

Ah, ok:

   http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CDDB

So obviously to do this requires that we read the audio CD itself to
generate the CDDB and then query the database.


> Hope this helps a bit.

It does, thanks!


Jon Noring