Can a scratched record...

No, never, no way and that's the beauty of LPs! Handling them keeps you on edge which makes the music better until such time as you get anxious because you know the mad dash to the tt is near to save that high priced stylus and irreplaceable record. Wouldn't have it any other way!

Albertporter...With 3500 CDs, your exposure is about ten times mine. Still I wonder about this CD skipping problem which you are not alone in reporting. The error correcting code used by CD should sail through quite prolonged data corruption (I forget the exact duration, but it would seem to be longer than any little scratch or blob of dirt). Perhaps there is something more complex than data drop out. Just a guess, but does the player (some of them) quit if the laser focus servo has a problem, regardless of the data comming in?

What we really need are some "Record repair and cleaning nanobots".
They would be placed at the leadin groove and work along the groove... Cleaning and repairing damage.
WOW!!
Can't wait.

Tabl10s,
The best way to fix your scratched record situation is to try to buy another one off eBay and hope that is better than the copy you have now.

Highly doubtful that I could find another copy.