CD Resurfacing: Experiences and Alternatives for Punk Rock CDs

[Norman]

I have a pretty extensive collection of rare punk rock cds that I cannot afford to replace as the cds get old and scratched- who knew physics would pay less than punk rock- I truly didn't think it possible.
Anyways, does anyone have any experience with trying the cd resurfacers that are found in cd stores? Do they work? Are they worth their cost? Is there an easier way to do it?

 

[dduardo]

Why don't you just rip the cds and encode them in FLAC.

http://flac.sourceforge.net/

You can then make another cd if you need to.

 

[mattmns]

I agree with dduardo here. The first thing I do after buying a new cd is burn it onto a cd and onto my computer, and then put the original cd back in the case.

Personally, I would try to write the cds to your computer before using one of those resurfacers.

 

[Norman]

Why don't you just rip the cds and encode them in FLAC.

http://flac.sourceforge.net/

You can then make another cd if you need to.

This seems like a good option, but the list of supported devices seems very small. Will it play on my crappy Koss cd player? I have thought about this (storeing the files digitally) and it seems like a good idea, but my computer sucks and is full (only 2 Gb left)... I know I know, hard drive space is fairly cheap, but I am trying to be as economical as possible. I am poor.

 

[dduardo]

Then encode the files in mp3s if your tight on space. The nice thing about flac is that it is a lossless codec, meaning that you don't lose any quality during the encoding process.

You don't actually burn the Flac or mp3 files onto the cds, you would want to convert them to CDDA so you can play the files on any cd player.

In most cd burning applications, when you specify that you want to create an audio cd and you select your mp3's, the program will actually convert the files for you into CDDA before burning them on the Cd.