Re: CD ripping speed vs age of CD
Reply #1 –
The drive's firmware might be telling it to slow down, for reasons I can only throw hunches about. If the drive senses some strain (CD maybe not completely even?), it might slow down. Also, before you get to C2 errors, there are C1 errors, that are corrected on-the-fly, but who knows if the drive will take it as a hint to slow itself down if it sees a plenty.
Rot? Didn't those cases corrode to hell pretty quick?
The reflective layer is glued to plastic, and you won't polish the silver at all. If anything cleaning the bottom works, it is cleaning the plastic, not the reflective material.