Disc Rot

If there are two things that one should never operate whilst inebriated, it is cars and computers. The former is pretty obvious and there are very strict laws to try to prevent the carnage that this can cause. The latter is a bit tricky as there must be many people who will regret an ill conceived venomous email or poorly considered Twitter comment. For me, it was more of a mystery as to why, on Sunday morning, I had a set of Amazon confirmation emails and an invoice from a media firm in Berlin. As it transpired, I thought it was a good idea to purchase several Pink Floyd albums late on Saturday night. My memory then started to drip feed back the details of the whole episode…

It actually started last Friday whilst watching the Olympic opening ceremony. Just after the cauldron was lit the closing track from "The Dark Side Of The Moon", Eclipse, was played. Of course, being well up on dodgy 1970’s progressive rock albums I was immediately able to point this out. However, I haven’t been able to play it for a few years as three Floyd albums went “odd” on me. The three in question were Dark Side, Meddle and Wish You Were Here – also known as “the good ones”. I have several hundred CDs (it may be more, I haven’t counted them all) but I have never had any problems playing them back – even from the earliest ones I bought around 1990. It seem odd then that three CDs sitting next to each other should all deteriorate to the point of being unplayable (or, at least, sounding like 78rpm vinyl that has been sand-papered.)

This kind of damage goes by the nickname “disc rot” and is, apparently, due to UV damage or (presumably in my case) chemical damage of some sort - although I couldn’t actually see any physical damage to the discs or their packaging. It must be fairly rare as these are the only examples I have come across but it is rather alarming considering I tend to regard these things as fairly indestructible (barring the action of dogs, children or spouses.) I suppose there is always the MP3 route but that simply means bigger potential losses or more backups and a definite loss of audio quality.

As it is, I seem to have managed to get some decent bargains during my drunken spending spree. However, Pink Floyd are still as miserable as ever. Apparently, they are lining them up for the Olympic closing ceremony. You have been warned!