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New CDs precoated with a slippery substance: since

I have not purchased any new CDs for years, but decided to aquire a few (50+) Blue Note RVG titles. (only because the LPs are impossible to find at reasonable prices)
I started to polish them and discovered they are all (except one) slippery already.
CDs used to arrive new with no coating and the surface had very high stiction. Only after coating them with a silicon product would they be "slippery".
Now all the CDs are already slippery.
So, when did this start happening?
(I have not purchased "new" CDs for about 10 years!)
And is this coating good enough, or do you find polishing them to still have some benefits
elizabeth
tomryan
794 posts
 
Nice to hear from you again, Elizabeth. Damn nice choice of music to get back into CDs. Don't forget to pick up some jazz reissues done 20BIT/K2 Super Coding; you can tell because they all come in cardboard sleeves.

Oh..haven't noticed any coatings on CDs ever but then I stopped trying tweaks on 'em 7-8 years ago. Have found many of the remastered discs sound just fine as is (and don't think I ever heard a difference anyway - same thing with that machine which used to spin them super fast. What a pain in the keister).
metralla
945 posts
 
Elizabeth, what is the silicon product you are polishing them with?

Is it possible that the slippery finish you feel is an artifact of modern CD production - something that may be removed with a little soap (natural, please) and warm water? I use my soapy fingers, as they are less likely to mark the soft polycarbonate than anything else, wiping in a radial manner; then rinse and pat dry.

I like Vivid; and I'm hearing good things about the new Auric Illuminator from a Vivid fan.

Regards,
elizabeth OP
6,726 posts
 
The silicone product I use is a remnant of a box of 100 packets of an early AudioQuest product. The packets were $0.25 each, so I bought a box of them. The packets were supposed to shine a few CDs. I could shine a hundred with one packet. I still have about 30 packets left. (If I could find some more old stock of them I would grab them!)
Now I use a cloth I keep impregnated with the juice.
I also use Meguiers Scratch X on fine marks.
The Blue Note CDs I aquired are all brand new.
schubert
4,867 posts
 
The pride of Milwaukee knows of what she speaks.
dethklok
8 posts
 
Sam Tellig's suggestion was armour all, not wd 40
I use micro smooth polish and optrix from Mapleshade. Works great
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