I opened a multi-CD jewel case (colloquially, a fatbox) album of three 25+ year old audio compact discs (CDs) today, preparing for the annual audition of Handel’s holiday masterpiece. A nasty surprise: open-cell polyurethane foam sheets, part of the original fatbox packaging, had spontaneously bonded to the labels of the CDs. Drat.
Peeling the foam off the CD was easy. But the label side was permanently pockmarked beyond repair. The foam had damaged the CD lacquer layer. You might succeed in playing a CD with this kind of damage, but the disc is doomed because the fragile reflective layer that carries the music is no longer protected. My three discs were barely playable.
The fix: Use audio CD rescue software to create new discs. (Data CD rescue software probably won’t work because audio CDs employ a different format.) The free cdrdao package recovered 100% of Handel’s glorious music. I kept the original discs in case of trouble with the copies.
I let my fingers do the walking through the other fatboxes in my collection and guess what? Many, especially those manufactured in the 1980s, contained foam sheets. Not all the foam sheets caused damage, but some of my CDs face reincarnation as coasters.
Have you fingered your fatboxes lately?