Firebird,

As to CD rot, no, not with commercial CDs. CD-R and CD-RWs use quite different technical schemes to encode the discs and may be subject to deterioration with exposure to sunlight, temperature extremes, etc.

My early CDs go back to 1982-83, and they play perfectly. How scratched are your discs? Light scratches that may cause some players to hiccup can be removed with a liquid auto wax, buffed across the disc (not in circles).

Regards,

Alan Lofft,
Axiom Resident Expert (Retired)