Has CD Quality Control Slipped? 80
morris57 asks: "In the past few months, I have had at least 3 brand new compact disks or DVDs not work right out of the box. I don't mean that any sort of copy protection on the disk prevented me from using them; they were simply defective disks. I was able to exchange my DVD of 'The Matrix Reloaded' at Best Buy for a working copy, but some disks I got for Christmas I just recently opened and they are either unplayable or garbled. It is not a hardware issue, either. I've tested the disks in several types of players: new, old, component, computers, etc... It seems to me to make a very good case for downloadable media files, although I know these tracks are not available on iTunes or audible.com. So, I guess I'm wondering if the Slashdot community has noticed a decline in quality control of CDs/DVDs. What can be done (individually or communally) to not get burned by defective disks?" The solution for this particular type of problem boils down to simple consumerism. If you get a defective product, return it! If manufactures notice a high rate of return (and they should), they'll hopefully address the quality of what they ship. Has anyone else noticed an increase of non-working DVDs or CDs?
I haven't noticed much (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:I haven't noticed much (Score:2, Insightful)
I'm not sure if that's a problem with the DVDs, or if my DVD player is extra sensitive to the defects, or who knows what. I've never had any other problems with any DVDs before.
Re:I haven't noticed much (Score:2)
Re:I haven't noticed much (Score:1)
Re:I haven't noticed much (Score:1)
> way too.
I have had one defective one which was in 1989, it's fine for me too.
> What can be done (individually or communally) to not get
> burned by defective disks?"
Oh that IS the RIAA/MPAA at work. See they have disks now that are getting us for burning them, those disks burn back!
mac desktops, dare to be nude [scrounger.ath.cx]
They don't care (Score:4, Funny)
Re:They don't care (Score:5, Interesting)
If returns become a problem, be assured that that information will wend its way back to the CD manufacturers eventually, with direct economic consequences.
Direct economic consequences is why this occurs; I posted about this on my weblog in relation to a similar Ask Slashdot regarding hardware [jerf.org]. The CD manufacturers will be using the exact same statistical techniques I mention in my post on CDs that electronics manufacturers use on their stuff. (New emphasis; as I'm quoting myself "emphasis mine" doesn't make too much sense
Re:They don't care (Score:1)
I remember when I worked at a medical device company where I sat across the room from the lone repair tech. The company made a product that came with a 'lifetime warranty' and they hadn't excluded the battery (rechargable 9v Ni-Cd) from the warranty. He fixed
Re:They don't care (Score:1)
Re:They don't care (Score:1)
You have to make them dummy-proof so the customer can't screw up the contacts and/or damage it using anything that s/he can be exected to try.
You have to design them to fit any battery you're going to specify as approved. This puts in you in 'squeeze' between Marketing, who want any battery available anywhere to be specified as usable, and your design costs and margin for accepta
Re:They don't care (Score:2)
"Nadir--where the quality comes out before the name goes on."
Sadly, its not the disc (Score:5, Funny)
Remember folks... (Score:5, Funny)
Stating the Obvious (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Stating the Obvious (Score:1, Interesting)
It's a shitty policy, but this is a perfect example of how a few bad apples can ruin it for everyone.
Re:Stating the Obvious (Score:1)
If that copy also does not work on my player, store policy or not, I'll get my money back.
Re:Stating the Obvious (Score:1)
I'd bet an exchange would go much more smoothly, but just try and get your money back on a return...
Re:Stating the Obvious (Score:2, Interesting)
And if all they want to give me is store credit after two defective copies, I will immediately be placing calls to the Better Business Bureau and never shop there again. I can usually create enough of a stink before leaving the store that I
Re:Stating the Obvious (Score:1)
The BBB is a paper tiger; more of a mob-style protection racket than a true consumer advocate organization.
Re:Stating the Obvious (Score:2)
I expect you are wrong anyway, I can see them attempting to not give you a refund but refusing to swap it for the exact same title and you having no recourse seems unlikely, even in the land of the free.
Re:Stating the Obvious (Score:2)
Re:Stating the Obvious (Score:3, Informative)
Re:Stating the Obvious (Score:3, Insightful)
No, it's not. Let's make this clear: the RIAA et al. are not afraid of people. They are afraid of technology. If they had their way, they would make a technology illegal even if it were impossible for more than one person in the world to use.
What is is a perfect example of how the realization by many corporations that they can piss a lot of customers off while still making money has changed the way t
Re:Stating the Obvious (Score:2)
Re:Stating the Obvious (Score:1)
Re:Stating the Obvious (Score:1)
Re:Stating the Obvious (Score:2)
I'm more interested in what can be done as a class of consumers that is potentially purchasing shoddily pressed disks. Is anyone keeping track of the rate of failure? I know that my anecdotal evidence means nothing, but if 10% of the Charlie Christian box sets are duds, I think there might be
Re:Stating the Obvious (Score:1)
Re:Stating the Obvious (Score:1)
Yup (Score:2)
Returned it for the other copy of "Emergency" in-store, and asked to listen to it before I left. Sure enough, it was also actually "Change." What a pisser.
Re:Yup (Score:2)
Bought Strider2, came with a free copy of the original Strider (which is why I bought it anyways -- always a sucker for nostalgia.)
Put Strider in the PS2, plays #2???? Put the copy that was silkscreened Strider2, was Strider?
No real big deal (since I had both), but would be a pain if I tried to buy it individually....
Falling life of CDRs (Score:4, Interesting)
Almost 30-40% of the disks scratched easily, and didn't work after 2 months of safe storage. They seemed to develop scratches for no reason at all.
I have read that the normal life expectancy of a CDR is about 2 years, in my case, the life expectancy seems to be 3 months.
Note: Other brand CDRs bought more than 2 years ago record just fine, and have survived for 2 years or more.
Has anyone else seen this trend? Cost cutting perhaps? I know that CDR manufacturers are experimenting with cheaper variants of pthalocyanine to get more bang for the buck.
Re:Falling life of CDRs (Score:1, Informative)
Failing CDR's is the RIAA's fault! (Score:1)
Similar (Score:2)
Holiday Season (Score:5, Interesting)
Ran into a bad DVD a couple years ago (Score:1)
So, is quality control slipping? I don't think so, as this was 3 years ago.
New DVD Rentals (Score:4, Interesting)
I rent probably 3 new DVD's a week on average, and without fail, one a week won't play in either of my players (Component and PC).
Brand new discs, very often the very first use of the disc no less.
I've also noticed that looking at the edges of the disc, that they are way less than perfect. Usually the layers don't line up very well, there's usually a very obvious seam, sometimes even with adhesive squeezed out the edge. I'm thinking super cheap-assed production.
I haven't noticed similar problems with CD's, although I've almost entirely stopped purchasing them because they're almost all NOT cd's anymore.
Also had Matrix Reloaded DVD issues... (Score:2)
Has anyone else had this trouble with DVD's not playing on a set-top device, but firing up on a DVD drive of a computer?
Re:Also had Matrix Reloaded DVD issues... (Score:3, Funny)
Re:Also had Matrix Reloaded DVD issues... (Score:2)
Star Trek Nemesis caused one DVD player to break and constantly freezes on another but plays fine on my PC.
yup. (Score:2, Insightful)
Player (Score:2)
I thought it was just videotapes... (Score:2, Insightful)
Hey, maybe it's a conspiracy so people will buy downloaded services
A different kind of DVD failure (Score:4, Funny)
Yikes, talk about your shock to the system! The store [knappvideo.com] made it right without the slightest fuss.
I don't buy DVD's or CD's (Score:1)
Two Towers DVD (Score:1)
Re:Two Towers DVD (Score:2)
Re:Two Towers DVD (Score:2)
It may be more than manufacturing flaws (Score:4, Interesting)
I noticed the same thing with videotapes and floppy discs.
In the case of CDs and DVDs, I think that cheaper material translates into higher flaw and failure rates... as the data has less plastic to protect the data from wear and tear.
Has it occurred to anyone that the machines that use the media also use cheaper parts as well? Portable CD players that I've used in the recent past seem less forgiving of scratches than the big clunker that I owned ten years ago.
Re:It may be more than manufacturing flaws (Score:3, Informative)
That's not imagination. I once attended a talk by someone from Philips Research. Accordig to the CD specs, the plastic layer on the playing side of the disc should be 1.0 mm thick with a tolerance of +/- 0.1 mm (I don't recall the exact numbers). According to him, after a few years, all CDs on the market had 0.905-mm-thick plastic layers because it was pos
Have you tried cleaning the lens? (Score:1)
On the software front... (Score:1)
Re:On the software front... (Score:2)
http://faqs.ign.com/articles/377/377213p1.html
Re:On the software front... (Score:2)
The publisher sent a new one to me.
DVD issues (Score:1)
CD-Rs are failing in quality too (Score:1)
This reminds me in the waning days of the floppy. The quality was piss poor, but I have some old "heyday" sony floppys that are still running strong.
Cheaper CDs? (Score:3, Informative)
However, in the past 6 months, I have purchased several CDs, and have had to reburn (checks disc box) 4 of them. I've also reburned several of my recent CD-R mix cd's. I don't know why, but after only a few weeks of use, these CD's have begun to skip. I have many CD's that are pushing 10 years old and are still going strong (which is amazing, considering some of them look like I scraped them across pavement.)
For some reason CD's I've purchased recently aren't holding up as well. If anything, I'm treating my CD's better than I used to, I just don't get it.
Are they making the actual data layers out of thinner/cheaper metals? Whats going on? I can't be the only person that's noticed this.
A conversation with the MPAA... (Score:2, Funny)
"Won't that just encourage people to download the work instead of going to the store, possibly several times, and using up time and money?"
"No it won't. Truth is lies! Love is hate! War is peace! 2 + 2 = 4!"
"Actually, it seems to me that it will..."
"You must be one of those evil FILESHARERS, aren't you?!"
Re:A conversation with the MPAA... (Score:2)
Re:A conversation with the MPAA... (Score:1)
Re:A conversation with the MPAA... (Score:1)
And then they point out they were telling the truth about a simple thing, so the other complex things must be true....
RIAA = Objectivists? (Score:2)
I dont have that problem. (Score:1)
empty (Score:1)
Re:empty (Score:2)
Pressed discs (Score:2)