The best way to clean up cds?

Now that I got my unit, I've been spending the past couple of days making my cd's into mp3s. Even though I've always had my cd's in the case, somehow a bunch of them have gotten dirty and/or scratched. I was wondering what you did to get your cd's cleaned up (if you even had this problem) Thanks!

As for cleaning, simply gently brushing with a soft, lint-free cloth (from center to edge, never in a circle, or you might create a scratch that parallels a track), should be enough.

Regarding scratches: If the scratches have penetrated the substrate layer of the actual data, there may be little you can do. There are CD scratch remover products (I'm sure Doug Burnside will chime in and recommend one here) but they are only useful when removing scratches from the clear plastic protective layer.

The best thing about digital audio extraction from CD's is that it's often possible to recover the data from a scratched CD if the audio isn't completely trashed. The error-correction mechanisms in some CD rippers will pull valid data out of places that would otherwise cause a consumer CD player to skip like crazy.

I've got two B-52's albums which have little or no silkscreen ink protecting their top substrate layer, and got scratched badly enough to prevent them from playing in a regular CD player. However, most ripper programs will rip them just fine and make a perfect MP3 out of them.

For more information on ripper software, please consult the FAQ.

I have had luck using a couple coats of car wax to help troubled discs play.

(I'm sure Doug Burnside will chime in and recommend one here)

These guys.

tanstaafl.

I have the opposite problem. Most my cd's play fine in cd players, but apparently they're to messed up to rip. I've been using cdex, which I like alot. Damn me for being sloppy with my cd's.

I've noticed that the drive itself makes a lot of difference. I have a Samsung DVD and an old Philips CD-RW (2x!). The Samsung is very critical of scratched/soiled CDs whereas the Philips is not too dissimilar to a normal CD player in tolerance. If you have different drives in your PC, experiment a bit.

There's also a lot of differences with ripping programs. One ripper that's very good is ExactAudioCopy, but can be slow with more critical Cds.

Added advantage is that EAC can start MP3 encoding and add ID3v1 tag at the same time whilst ripping (well, after it's finished the first track) by a command line. I use LAME 3.91 VBR with very good results.

Go to: http://www.exactaudiocopy.de

I have the opposite problem. Most my cd's play fine in cd players, but apparently they're to messed up to rip.

That is highly unlikely. If a CD won't rip, it should skip like crazy in a consumer CD player (assuming it's not copy protected).

The more likely situation is that there's something wrong with the ripping system, either in the drive or the software. Try ripping on a different computer or with different software/settings.

Ok, I'm going to try some of these cd's on another computer. I'll see how it works.