Caring for Your Compact Discs

You're relaxing at home on a Saturday afternoon. You've done all the yard work, gotten caught up on the laundry, and you've done all the grocery shopping. There's nothing good on TV, so you decide to crank up the stereo and let the music take you away. You're on the couch listening to your favorite CD and perhaps singing along with every song, when out of the blue the CD starts to skip or pop. You switch songs and the next song poops too. You take the CD out of the CD player and clean it with your shirt, or a piece of toilet tissue and some CD cleaner. It still skips on your favorite songs. This article gives some tips to repair your favorite CD.

The problem may not be with the CD itself, but rather with your CD player's laser lens. To clean the laser lens, you need a laser lens cleaner CD. It looks like a music CD or CD-Rom only it has a small brush that will sweep dust from off the laser lens. Many CD cleaner disks also include a voice and music guide to help you to ensure that you have your stereo speakers connected properly. To ensure proper CD playback, you should clean the laser lens at least once or twice a month.

Toothpaste works well to repair the playing surface of your CD by penetrating the cracks in the outer plastic shell. To do this, squeeze some cream-based toothpaste on your CD over every crack in the outer plastic shell. GENTLY rub the toothpaste over the cracks until it dissipates and begins to harden. Let the CD dry overnight or use a hair dryer set on the lowest fan setting with low heat or no heat. After the CD has dried, wipe off any excess toothpaste with a damp piece of toilet tissue. Allow the CD to dry completely before you attempt to play it again, otherwise you run the risk of damaging your CD player's changer mechanism or laser lens.