Hi friends.
I'm an anal CD collector. Some of my most valuable CDs have marks in a lower or higher degree, although 100% of them are readable and EAC extractable without errors. i.e. the problem is just aesthetic.
That said, I'm considering buying the JFJ Easy Pro resurfacing machine:
http://www.jfjeasypro.com/shopnew/product/easy-pro
Some experience with this machine?
Does it really provides brand new like mint CDs?
Would the resurfacing process lower the lifespan of the CDs?
Thanks in advance.
I have a little polishing machine but it wasn't that expensive. Mine looks like a portable CD player and it has two polishing wheels.
I only used it a few times and it never fixed a read error so it's been years since I've used it. I also have a little plastic polishing kit that has 3 different polishing compounds that you can use manually with a cloth. Again, it's never helped.
Sometimes cleaning a disc with window cleaner has helped, but if cleaning didn't help polishing didn't help either.
I've never polished a disc for cosmetic reasons.
Polishing shouldn't hurt. The data-layer on a CD is on top (the label side) and it's read through the full-thickness of the polycarbonate. I believe most damaged CDs are damaged from the top, and polishing the top would only make it worse (if you get through the protective coating to the actual data layer). I've wrecked a CD-R by pulling-off the label (back before I had a printer that could print directly on the disc.)
The data layer on a DVD is in the middle of a polycarbonate sandwich. You can sandpaper the label-side and you won't hurt it. Don't try that with a CD! The data is on the bottom of a Blu-Ray.
I have a JFJ Easy Pro. I've have it about two years now.
It works just fine on new or old cds. It also works on dvd or blu-rays.