While going over my CD collection I notice that a great many of them have developed scratches, rubbed areas, and little flecks of backing missing, etc. Gah. I read here where folks are using Brasso as a polishing medium. Have some, tried it, and it revived some CD's that were unplayable [sic?]. OTOH, I see those little swirling machines...Disk Doctor or some such contrivance...do those do the job well, or better even, and reduce the elbow grease? I wonder if I have the Egrease to restore all my damaged stock. Since 1995 I started doing some traveling...long term art residency stuff where I wanted my music collection with me. This was pre-CDR for me. I removed my CDs from their jewel cases and transfered them into 100 CD capacity Pro-Logic binders. That made the whole scene more compact, and easier to access even in the home: since then it's become my default storage system. I wonder though if the binder's sleeves cause wear over time on the Cds in time? So how do you store your CDs?
Also for the past ten years I've been doing long term dirtbagging in the mountains & desert. This involves pretty much taking a couple dozen CDs in a little case (similiar sleeve type construction as the ProLogic). But because of environmental issues (10 days up on a wall, 6 weeks in the desert) a selection my heavier used CDs have become rather manky...some are slowly turning to schwag....these are originals CDs. A change is under way. I just got got a new computer yesterday which changes my options here...I'll make copies of all my collection and store the masters in deep storage. I'd love to hear repair strategies, storage systems, and any other tips you've got.
I store my CDs in the original cases in an Ikea CD unit.
However I was thinking of getting a Squeezebox, or maybe a Cambridge Azur 640H. Then I thought 'nah, I like using CDs'.
The biggest problem I have with CDs is grime. I don't care too well for my CDs I have to admit, and sometimes they don't get put back into their case when they should.
For out and about music listening, where you won't be carrying a couple of B&W 604s on your back, I use an iPod (or similar) and deal with the compressed audio. Even though, with a 60GB iPod and lossless compression you can fit nearly 200 CDs on. I just haven't bothered yet.