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Back up your valuable CDs!
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Brian W. View Drop Down
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    Posted: 04 January 2010 at 10:43pm
I just want to encourage everyone to make CD-R backups of your out-of-print, valuable CDs. I've been going through my old CD singles and putting them on my iPod as Apple Lossless files, and so far I've run across THREE that have disc rot... will no longer play properly. All are CDs I've owned since the late '80s and early '90s.

Two were imports manufactured by PDO (legendary for their failed discs), but today I was surprised to find that my Whitney Houston "Love Will Save the Day" promo CD single will not play properly either. I THINK I have a second copy of it somewhere (though I can't find it at the moment... maybe I sold it), but just be aware... your CDs could go bad at any time. Consider backing up your most valuable ones.
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aaronk View Drop Down
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Points: 40 		Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote aaronk Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 04 January 2010 at 11:11pm
That's really great advice, Brian. I'm in the process of digitizing my entire collection as wav files. It's also important to make backups of your backups (store your files on two different drives).
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eric_a View Drop Down
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Originally posted by aaronk aaronk wrote:

That's really great advice, Brian. I'm in the process of digitizing my entire collection as wav files. It's also important to make backups of your backups (store your files on two different drives).


I have to second Aaron's advice. I lost a 500 GB hard drive about a year ago - comprising about 30% of the music I had digitized, all as wav files. Fortunately, most of it came from CD, which was painful but possible to rerip. However, I lost 500-1000 tracks I had dubbed from vinyl. Not sure when or if I'll get around to rerecording those.

The sad irony is that the hard drive crashed just as I finally got around to backing it up for the first time! I won't wait that long again!
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crapfromthepast View Drop Down
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Points: 1 		Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote crapfromthepast Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 05 January 2010 at 8:20am
Agreed all the way around.

I currently have 3 external USB drives plugged into my home machine at all times, and each time I rip a CD, I copy it over to one of the other drives. It's good to be a little paranoid - hard drives are cheap, and this is really time-consuming. (I've ripped about 1500 CDs and it feels like I haven't made a dent in the basement...)

I'd also recommend ripping with Exact Audio Copy (EAC) - a free program that works with Windows machines. It ensures that you get an accurate rip, and if there are problems, it lets you know exactly where in your files there may be ripping issues.

Also, for problem discs, I'd try ripping on different machines. Some discs put up a fight on one CD drive but rip flawlessly on another.
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Originally posted by eric_a eric_a wrote:


I lost a 500 GB hard drive about a year ago


Eric, what brand of external hard drive do you have? I have a 500 GB hard drive, too. I keep WAV files of every song I like on it (basically, folders of WAV files for every CDR I've ever put together - but in totality, they add up to every song I ever want to hear.) Basically, I have all this music stored in 3 places -- on my CDRs, on my external hard drive, and on CDRs stored in another state!

I have my mp3s stored in 4 places: 2 mp3 players, my main drive and my external hard drive.
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995wlol View Drop Down
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Brian, if you look at the inner ring the Whitney Houston CD, does it say it was made by Discovery Systems? By coincidence, just last night I was backing up CDs and had issues with a 1988 Arista promo CD single for Jermaine Stewart / Kashif from the same time period as your CD. It was made by Discovery Systems and could not be ripped securely in EAC. I was able to rip using a different program, but there are audible digital "crackles" throughout. If you look at the label, there are what appear to be tiny bubbles between the label side and the playing surface. It creates almost a "textured" look and can be seen from both sides of the disc. I think all of the Stewart / Kashif promo CDs may be flawed because I had previously purchased a copy that was completely unplayable on all 5 or 6 drives I tried it on.

I worry about the Discovery Systems CDs because two of my other prized promo CD singles from the same time period were manufactured by them--Hall & Oates "Everything Your Heart Desires" and New Order "True Faith". Fortunately, those two CDs do not appear to have the "bubble" issue. I also believe the rare Madonna "You Can Dance - Single Edits" CD was manufactured by Discovery, so make backups if anybody has that one!!


Edited by 995wlol
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Brian W. View Drop Down
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Points: 0 		Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Brian W. Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 05 January 2010 at 12:58pm
Originally posted by 995wlol 995wlol wrote:

Brian, if you look at the inner ring the Whitney Houston CD, does it say it was made by Discovery Systems?

YES!!! Holy crap. And I do see a couple teeny bubbles on the top towards the outer edge. Maybe I've never tried to rip it before?

Regarding the Madonna "You Can Dance Edits": I've NEVER been able to rip that with a computer or on my old Philips audio CD recorder. Even at the time I bought it, around 1992, it wouldn't play properly on my little portable CD player... I had to use my laserdisc player. And it has always played fine on my DVD player. A few months ago, I made a successful copy using the digital line out from the DVD player, so it's safe, thankfully. (I did try ripping it with the DVD drive on my computer... no dice.)

Maybe I'll try that with the Whitney CD, since I haven't been able to find my other copy. (It's probably in the same place as my nine-track "Nothing Really Matters" promo, which I can't find either.)

Edited by Brian W.
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aaronk View Drop Down
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Points: 40 		Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote aaronk Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 05 January 2010 at 1:17pm
I have a copy of the Hall & Oates promo for "Everything..." and it has laser rot. I do have it backed up from a good source on CDR, though.

Regarding the hard drives, I'm using Western Digital, and they've always been very reliable for me (knock on wood). Geez, we should've all "tag-teamed" our ripping efforts. It would've saved boatloads of time!
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995wlol View Drop Down
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Points: 0 		Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote 995wlol Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 05 January 2010 at 1:46pm
Now I'm nervous--right now my only "back ups" are low-quality mp3s that were made close to 10 years ago. I'll be looking for all of my Discovery Systems promos and and ripping them to FLAC as soon as I get home from work!!!
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aaronk View Drop Down
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Points: 40 		Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote aaronk Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 05 January 2010 at 3:16pm
Originally posted by 995wlol 995wlol wrote:

Now I'm nervous--right now my only "back ups" are low-quality mp3s that were made close to 10 years ago. I'll be looking for all of my Discovery Systems promos and and ripping them to FLAC as soon as I get home from work!!!

Good idea!
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