WHAT IS DISC ROT AND HOW MAY IT AFFECT YOUR CD'S?

"Disc rot" is the result of poor manufacturing and includes the breakdown of the data layer on a CD (click here to read the Wikipedia article)

• Visually "disc rot" can be seen as splotches, pinholes, and the disc being transparent.

• Audibly "disc rot" can be heard as static/audio distortion or skipping even on a scratch-free disc....

Cd's suffering from "disc rot" may not play in some players and/or may not rip to a digital file on a computer. Distortion may be more present in a digital file rip than during playback on the CD.

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Many DeGarmo & Key albums released on Power Discs (original release) suffer from disc rot. The most notorious albums affected are D&K and No Turning Back Live. Some of the Forefront reissues have also been seen with disc rot.

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Be aware of this issue when purchasing a DeGarmo & Key cd. It doesn't matter if the CD is new or used. Many sellers do not test CD's entirely or at all. Always ask if the CD has been tested to play without skips or distortion. Even if the seller claims the CD to be in perfect condition, always play the disc in its entirety before you run out of time to return it if it proves to be defective. Disc rot cannot be cured or reversed in any way. Keep in mind that disc rot is literally destroying the data on the disc and those gaps cannot simply be filled back in.

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Also be aware that Disc rot is across the board, not just for DeGarmo & Key cd's. Earlier CD's such as those manufactured in the 80's have a higher chance of disc rot. The inner circle around the CD tells who manufactured the disc. Discovery Systems are the highest risk because of their poor manufacturing. Some discs made by Nimbus during the late 80's and early 90's may also be affected.

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Your best defense against disc rot is to backup your CD's. Here are a two ways to do so:

1. Make a perfect cd copy by using a computer with CD burning software such as CD Burner XP (freeware), Power2Go (paid), Nero (paid), etc. You can also use a CD duplicator.

2. Rip your cd's to a lossless audio format such as WAV and FLAC. Lossless formats do not digitally distort/compress the audio in any way. FLAC is open source and is a much smaller size than WAV and it generally compatible with anything WAV is. Think of FLAC as putting the audio in a space bag to compress the size, not the audio, to save space.

• Remember, neither of these backup methods will work if your cd already has disc rot.

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Here's an example of an extreme case of "disc rot" on a DeGarmo & Key cd. It's usually not this bad: