Scratchproof recordable CDs
p2p news / p2pnet: Some of the best ideas are so obvious, like, How come I didn’t think of that?
Scratch-proof recordable CDs? Yup.
"Todd Kuchman, founder and chief executive of Scratch-Less Disc Industries, came up with a low-tech fix," says the New York Times.
"He added a series of bumps around the edge of the disc, keeping the surface slightly raised."
Does it work?
Yup, at least according to the NYT’s Stephen C Miller who states one of the SPCDs was still going strong, "after a 175-pound man ground it into a rug and then rubbed it across the top of a metal file cabinet".
They cost about $1 each, says the story.
Also See:
New York Times – If Your CD’s Double as Coasters, Here’s One That Can Take It, January 5, 2006
January 5th, 2006 at 7:47 pm
I’ve got an eleven-month old daughter that does more rigorous tests on my CDs than a 175-pound gorilla.
It sounds like hype or irrational exuberance because the CD is flexible, so even if the edges are supported the middle would still sag and drag when weight is applied to it from the top. I guess the real test would be if a company like Netflix adopted it and actually did studies of how long their discs were to last.
January 5th, 2006 at 8:01 pm
It occurs to me that the outer or last tracks of a CD would be most protected by this scheme. In “copy potected” CDs, the DRM is on the outermost part of the CD in the second session. Maybe the labels will start releasing CDs with these protective outer bumps to preserve the most important part of the CD to them, which is the DRM.