When the Compact Disc was announced, it was thought by many to be the greatest thing since Creation, sliced bread and the discovery of chocolate. Conductor Herbert von Karajan proclaimed, "All else is gaslight." Great for him, as he pressured his record company into paying him to re-record his repertoire for the new medium.
"Perfect Sound Forever" was one of the other slogans used to tout the Compact Disc. But fairly quickly the "Perfect Sound" was challenged and found not to be so. And not so quickly but nevertheless inexorably, the "Forever" has fallen on doubt.
A currently-running thread on a classical music newsgroup concerns what looks to be corrosive destruction of the metallic layer in Compact Discs. This is different from the already-known bronzing of that layer. The visible manifestation is deteriorated spots, some black and opaque, ranging to patches that have gone clear and transparent, as though the metallic layer has completely decayed to where it's GONE.
The effect seems to be worst on Compact Discs made in Europe by Philips (parent company of "Gaslight" Karajan's recording company Deutsche Grammophon). The CD numbered 415 129-2 is a disc of Handel's music conducted by Trevor Pinnock on DG, issued in 1990. Decca CDs, many of which were pressed by Philips in its European plants, also suffer.
I'm thinking the cause could be oxidation, from pinholes or thin spots in the lacquer coating that is supposed to "seal" the thin metallic layer from the air.
Meanwhile, conventional gramophone records, whether shellac 78s or vinyl LPs, continue to be playable, and will as long as the equipment to do so remains available and there are people like those here at Lenco Heaven who have faith in the format.
