As some of you know my dad was a professional singer most of his life, traveled all over, and was on Ed Sullivan in 59. Anyway, in 2005 we went into my brother-in-laws recording studio and mixed my dad singing with the below songs, he was around 68 at the time. It came out pretty darn good to my ears. Of course, my dad said on a few of the songs he was not happy with the high notes, sounded good to me though after all these years.

The problem is that he used cheap Memorex CD's for the copys I made, and he sent some out to the guys that were on the Sullivan show. They have called him and said the sound quality of the recording have gotten worse with age. I listened to one and a few songs sounded all choppy and distorted for whatever reason. I think the CD brand sucks.

I still have the original masters, and was wondering if I should use Verbatim, Ritek, or what brands to assure long life? I have some Sony RW's here at the house as well. I just want these things to last. What is the use of CD's if the deteriorate after time.

New York
My Way
Chicago
Strangers in the Night
Witchcraft
Summerwind
I've got the World on a String
Night and Day
I've got you Under My Skin
Lady is a Tramp

MFSL CDR's Not cheap but probably worth it. As are most of the MFSL things ive bought.

http://www.musicdirect.com/category/48

wow, thats cool about your dad!

I don't think any CD-R is rated for very long life... I have a few data ones from the first years I was in business (1996) that are now going a bit sloppy (stored in a temperature controlled office) and many of my MP3 discs (I don't bring "real" CDs in the car with me) subjected to prairie summers and winters (-35 to +35 C) are unplayable and the layers are cracking or spiderwebbing after 2.5 years in those conditions.

What are the "masters" you speak of? Tape? CD-R? Some form of removable magnetic storage?

Also, depending what speed the copies were burned at - that may be an issue... hard to find a home CD-R drive that will slow down to 1x, but that's really the best for archival - the pits stay round that way instead of oblong.

Bren R.

Randy:
Mitsui Gold discs have a pretty good reputation. Mostly, I'd say your best bet is to make many copies and distribute them...keeping one or two in a safe deposit box in an archival sleeve.

I always make an extra couple of copies of my customers' duplication jobs so they can be put away safely....

I have about 5 original copies that are on Sony CDR's. I think they were burned at 4X, but not sure. Thanks for the link Mark, I'll check those out compared to the ones Brandon mentioned above. Thanks Bren for the advice as well.

I have heard good things about these.

While everybody is thinking about CD longevity, has anybody had any luck with scratch repair kits for CDs? I know it will be hit and miss depending on the scratch but what is the general consensus? Is it worth trying for mild scratches. I'm short a few tracks after ripping my entire CD collection to flac because of a few mild scratches.

I found automotive "pink" polishing compound works for terribly scratched CDs, but just to make that one copy (since it contains solvents that will eventually eat or fog the clear plastic layer)

As for non-destructive kits... never tried one.

Bren R.