My walkman vandalised my CD

OK, so I recently got myself one of these new-fangled walkman gadgets - much more practical than those old-fashioned gramophones which were so heavy to carry around. I was quite happy with it until it brutally attacked one of my CDs. The CD was fine when I played it the first time, but on playing it again it got stuck on track 8, and on investigating I found that the CD player had gouged a deep scratch into the plastic coating. As a result, I can no longer play that track of the CD.

So now I'm wondering - should I tolerate this kind of vandalism from an otherwise well-behaved CD player? I think the damage occurred while I was travelling on a Munich city bus - at least that was when the CD got stuck. Maybe it was the vibrations from the bus's engine that gave the CD player a jolt. Some of those buses are real boneshakers. Now I'm really nervous about listening to my favourite CDs on the bus. Am I worrying unnecessarily?

Oh, by the way: "It's a Sony".

Is this for real? I didn't even realise one could still buy discmans. Why don't you rip the CDs on your computer and buy an MP3 player? You can then carry a hundred times as much music in a tenth of the space and weight, without having to worry about jolting buses and damaged CDs.

Anyway, delving back to into my vague technological knowledge that I learned ten years ago and thought had become obsolete by 2002, CDs are read by a laser, and there's no way a laser can scratch your CD. It was probably either damaged putting it into the player, or was damaged some time earlier and you didn't notice.

But seriously, get an MP3 player...

Trust me - they can bugger your CD's alright.

The new XBOX 360 will eat your CD's if you move it. Shit design. The thing is spinning fast and when moved acts like a gyroscope. If badly designed the disc touches the inside of the casing. I upgraded my XBOX 360 with sticky pads to stop the problem.

So a shit discman will do the same.

Shit computer CD drives can bugger your audio CDs too. At least mine can.
And just FYI Mr STB, you can still buy "real" walkmans (viz with cassette drive).

What CD was it? If it was it was Snow Patrol you can hardly blame it.

Go on then Kat. What is "decent" music then?

"Wham!" probably.

She is Ami so I guess:

1. Britney Spears
2. Bon Jovi
3. Dolly Parton

Really? How dare an Ami fucking criticise any form of British culture. Typical. She'll be telling me that Americans won both World Wars next. Tsk.

heh.

Well that reply certainly put Jimbo and I truly back in our place. I am struggling for a witty comeback after a damning and clever put down like that.

Dust particles inside the CD tray could cause severe damage to the CDs.

Solution: make copies of your CDs and listen to the copies instead of the originals. It's legal too.

Thanks for the various comments.

@STB: Yep, for real. I bought my walkman or discman or whatever the thing is correctly called, at Media Markt just a few months ago. And I know the laser can't scratch the CD, but there are enough mechanical moving parts that can do damage - the CD rotating at high speed, and the bit containing the laser which moves from the centre to the edge (I think; or does it go the other way, from edge to centre?) as it reads the CD. From the scratch marks, it looks as if something about 1mm wide slammed into the disc while moving from the edge towards the centre, but the odd thing is that there is another hairline scratch, about 1 cm long and slightly curved, extending from this point towards the centre of the disc. So now I'm thinking maybe the damage occurred not while the disc was playing, but on changing tracks to skip back to an earlier track. The CD was a brand new one in its cellophane wrapping and was definitely not damaged before I put it in the player. It was fine the first couple of times I played it, and I hadn't taken it out of the player again before it got damaged.

Yes, I know, I should get an MP3 thingy, but I'm just a little old lady who is slowly getting to grips with modern technology. My next purchase will probably be a mobile phone, and I was just trying to work out on my abacus how much all this is going to cost me, when an old friend told me that abaci are now obsolete and I really should get myself a slide rule. Apparently they are much easier to handle and you don't have to worry about shoving all those beads around.

@Kat: The CD was a compilation called "Sweet Soul Music" - stuff from the sixties which shows how ancient I am. The track it objected to was "Rescue Me" by Fontella Bass. There may be a joke or two in there, but I'm not feeling very bright today.

Don't diss Dolly. She is a homegirl.

No worries grandma, you'll work it out eventually.

Well STB and GT are right concerning th CD being damaged. The laser cannot damage it but the CD can be damaged in the rotation process especially if walking around with it. A simple bump can cause a scratch in the interior of the cd player even if the anti shock mech is activated.

I think the only people over 18 who like Britney Spears are not in America...

Wow, the only place for the diskman these days seems to be the car. Haven't upgraded to MP3 car toy yet.