Those Poor CDs...

How do you treat your CDs?

I was raised in a household with a fancy record player, which I wanted more than anything to play with. My parents wouldn't let me because records are very fragile, and the needle, while being necessary to play records, is also one of the greatest tools for RUINING records. So I always treated records with a serious protective outlook. To this day, when using records at the library for old recordings, I hold my breath when placing the needle. And I live in fear of the "record scratch" sound.

This is the Modern Era, though. We don't use records much. In the first three months of this year, 86 million CDs were sold in the United States. Considering CDs have been a mass market format for more than 20 years, one can assume that there are an awful lot of CDs in existence.

Earlier this summer, I watched through the complete series of "Sex and the City". There are six seasons, and each season usually had four discs. Combined with all the other movies I've rented from the library, I've seen a heap of discs from my local library. Most of them are fine, but occassionally, one will have serious scratches.

I treat my CDs and DVDs fantastically. Each has a box, and it stays there when not being moved to a player. I never set the CDs on the counter or piles of boxes. I've been known to do other activities with a CD spindled on my little finger, simply because I don't have a place to put it.

I think I'm in the very controlling minority. I don't have any sort of CD burning technology, so I never broke myself of the "I paid good money for this" philosophy regarding discs. I've seen people leave discs every which way, used as coasters, and generally abused. A friend of mine made copies of all my recital CDs for adjudication, and he gave me the discs loose. I went home and the very first thing I did was make a paper envelope to put them in.

My CD OCD was appeased immediately.