Is it true that a CD I burn at home could damage my car's CD player?

March 9, 2004 12:08 PM

Recently bought a car and the radio plays CDs. The panel says "CD/CD-R", but the manual had a big sticker across the cover saying "using non-original, recorded discs may damage this radio" etc. Is this some ass-covering copyright related legal thingie, or is it true that a CD I burn at home could damage the player?
posted by signal to Technology (10 answers total)

It could just be a disclaimer of some sort. The only problem I had with "using non-original, recorded discs" is when their homemade labels come off and mess it up.
posted by azul at 12:14 PM on March 9, 2004

My guess is that they're just covering their ass, as a result someone misread information about CD-R oversizing, in which you record past the "recommended" area of the disc's outer writeable surface. It's believed that this could damage a CD writer, although there doesn't appear to be any evidence that such is the case. Either that, or they're worried about wrinkled CD labels jamming the servo. Or they're afraid you're going to try to play a data CD at high volume and blow out your speakers. Otherwise, how a CD-reader could be damaged by playing a CD is beyond me.
posted by vraxoin at 12:21 PM on March 9, 2004

"as a result someone misread" should be "as a result of someone misreading"

preview! preview! preview!
posted by vraxoin at 12:22 PM on March 9, 2004

If the unit is billed as playing CD-Rs, then the question is: Is there such a thing as a CD-R that is not non-original and recorded? Maybe they mean it just plays blank, empty CD-Rs. Which is nice, I guess.
posted by stupidsexyFlanders at 12:26 PM on March 9, 2004

Some off-brand CD-Rs can cause the following problems:

- Wear on focusing mechanism
- Wear on laser
- Wear on drive mechanism
- Get stuck (never seen it, but could happen if the disc is really poorly sized)

Due to being unbalanced/poorly manufactured, and using cheap dyes that don't reflect well.

Just don't use total junk, and you won't have any problems. It's almost 100% CYA, but hey, it's always possible to find the odd case.

Oh, last but not least, a badly mastered CD could cause the microcontroller to do crazy things, just like those copy-protected damaged Original "CDs" did to Macs.
posted by shepd at 12:39 PM on March 9, 2004

[fish ponders the idea of encoding popular pirated music with subcodes that destroy CD players, particularly targeting the subwoofer-blasting idjits out there...]
posted by five fresh fish at 4:08 PM on March 9, 2004

billsaysthis applauds the fish's idea and wonders when it will be implemented...
posted by billsaysthis at 5:44 PM on March 9, 2004

What shall we title this album? "UltraBass II: Revenge of the Subwoofer"? I'll bet that would get damn near every lame-ass punk to download it.
posted by five fresh fish at 6:48 PM on March 9, 2004

I join this fishy idea. It's a movement!
posted by Goofyy at 12:48 AM on March 10, 2004

I was told that the lasers used in computers to write CDs is stronger than the lasers used to read CDs in CD players and stereos and, therefore, if you kept playing computer-burned CDs in CD players, you would "wear out" the laser.

Now I tend to believe that's bollocks just based on my feelings towards to the person who told me that, but I'd like to hear it from another person. Does playing CDRs in CD players damage your CD player?
posted by Katemonkey at 8:39 AM on March 10, 2004