The No. 1 source of aggravation in having a CD collection is keeping it free from scratches. Family and friends often expect you to lend out your prized CD collection each time you're asked. Well, what do you do if someone returns a CD in a state not far from unusable? Today I have a few options for all of us who are not willing to replace our favorite CDs just because they have a few scratches.
If your discs play fine, don't worry about removing the scratches. You really can't remove 100 percent of the scratches from a disc unless you replace it with a new one. If it ain't broke, don't fix it.
Cleaning options
There are a handful of commercial cleaning options on the market, but we've found some home remedies work just as well, if not better. If you're too cheap to spend the bread on a commercial solution, find an alternative around your house.
Baking soda toothpaste
Baking soda toothpaste, huh? Actually, any mild abrasive like furniture polish, Pledge, or plastic polish works fine for removing CD scratches. Just take any lint-free cloth, add some of the abrasive to the afflicted area, and then wipe. Make sure to wipe from the center of the disc to the rim in a straight line. Never wipe in a circular pattern.
This only works on minor scratches, but I found the results were OK. While it does not work well in bringing back heavily scratched CDs from the grave, it does help to stop CDs with light to moderate scratches from skipping.
Finally, use baking soda toothpaste with as few additives as possible. Some of the gel-based baking soda toothpastes tend to leave a sticky film on the CD, which requires a bit of effort to remove.
Car wax
Another home remedy I tried was car wax. Unlike polishes, waxes fill in the cracks or scratches. Just pour or rub the wax on a scratched area and wipe it off with a lint-free cloth from the center to the rim.
I didn't experience the greatest results, but it could have been the car wax I was using, liquid Turtle Wax. Some people testify that this works, but I believe you may have better luck with a Carnauba-style car wax. If you don't have access to car wax, you can try furniture wax like Pledge instead.
It might be too late
There's always a chance that you may not be able to salvage your precious CDs.
Really bad scratches circle around the disc. A scratch from the center to the rim isn't as bad. A CD player can miss a beat and you won't notice it, but if the scratch follows the track pattern of a CD you'll notice a lot more skipping.
The worst place to scratch a CD isn't on the bottom but the top. Why? Because the label side contains the reflective material required to bounce the laser back to the CD player's pick-up head. It's also close to where the pits and bumps that make up the data track on a CD are stored. Scratch that and you'll most likely never play the disc again.
Prevent scratches
Now it's time to keep all your newly repaired CDs and recent purchases safe from future scratches.
Keep your CDs in a safe and scratch-free environment. This means you should always keep them in sturdy jewel cases and off the floor, table, or backseat of your car.
When cleaning your CDs use a soft, lint-free cloth and make a single swiping motion from the center of the disc to its rim. Don't clean in circles as you would a vinyl LP
