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From: ben@moncol.UUCP (Bennett Broder)
Newsgroups: net.audio
Subject: Re: Undestroying CD's - the whole sordid story...
Message-ID: <292@moncol.UUCP>
Date: Tue, 14-May-85 09:42:38 EDT
Article-I.D.: moncol.292
Posted: Tue May 14 09:42:38 1985
Date-Received: Thu, 16-May-85 21:15:07 EDT
References: <1148@hound.UUCP>
Organization: Monmouth College, West Long Branch, NJ 07764
Lines: 18

>I thought I was barely scratching the surface. And we all know that there is
>a "protective coating of plastic" over the aluminum on that side.

According to the instruction manual that came with my Revox CD player,
the back of a CD is *NOT* coated with plastic.  The coating is simply
a thin layer of shellac, occasionally covered with a layer of ink.
The manual goes on to state that although the laser side of the disk
can withstand considerable abuse and still be usable, even
minor damage to the back of the disk can render it unplayable.  I
guess you scratched your initials into the wrong side. :-)  Seriously
though, I would think the only 'safe' area would be that area near the
center of the disk that is clear plastic on Japanese disks.

                                     Ben Broder
                                     ..vax135!petsd!moncol!ben
                                     ..ihnp4!princeton!moncol!ben