Hi all,

I'm posting this on behalf of a friend of mine, who is having problems with CD-R media peeling off on the label side, after putting them a few times in her car CD player.

For the moment, it has only happened with Imation media. She's careful when using and storing the CD's. Is the media solely at fault, or could the slot-in player have played a part in this ?

I'm including pictures of the player, and of two separate Imation CD-R's.

What is your opinion ?

Thanks !

Hi Numlock,
does this unit get very hot? I don't know any other reason how a CD player could damage the media so hard.
VW once had a series of Radio/CD player which got quite hot during normal operation - maybe now Ford has the same problem?

Media problem, most likely. I had that happen to cd-rs already as well, even ones which I pretty much never touch (and just store properly)

Those CD-R's are cheap. They are at fault here. I have run into problems with this particular brand before.

I had the same problem with the Imation CDs. "Imation" doesn't mean quality. There are different places where Imation is producted.

I had this happen before, with an old CD-R that only lay in a dry, dark spot and was only read from 2 or 3 times. A bit of the label "broke" off as well, and i could scratch off almost the entire label afterwards so i had a see-thru CD. I think it's the cheap material.

Your problems are most likely related to substandard (in terms of temperature resistance) bonding of the reflective layer of these imation CD-R's ... the "label side" is the reflective layer and is being steam-applied to the polycarbonate disc during manufacturing.

If the polycarbonate disc isn't kept clean (and I mean REALLY clean) during production prior to reflector application, bonding issues with the reflective layer will most likely occur ... the more media operating temperatures deviate from 'normal' room temperature, the faster this will happen.

This is a media fault.
Some of my not-so-old Imation CD-r have the same proble.
Shame on Imation!

Thanks all for your input ! I don't know the exact prices, but they weren't even "dirt-cheap"... I didn't know that any CD-R brand could sell such crap...

By the way, the worst damaged CD on the pictures, is only a few days old !

Sunhillow: yes, she told me that after some usage, the CD comes out warmer than expected (compared to other CD players). But nothing exceptional, I suppose.

JeanLuc: thanks a lot for your detailed explanation !

Edit: I forgot to mention, when the CD's are unused, she lets them in the car (gloves compartment). That produces nice temperature gradients for sure, especially now in winter.. I suppose, somewhere between -10°C outside (cold nights) and ~40°C in the player (prolonged use) ?