Use a ‘condom’ to protect your discs
If scratching your CD, DVDs, Blu-ray Discs or video games is a concern – and anyone with small kids should be nodding right now – then you might want to consider the clever “d_skin” products that protect these discs like a, er, condom, of sorts.
In case you haven’t heard of this product, d_skins are an inexpensive film that protects any standard size (12cm) disc from scratches or smudges by simply snapping it onto a CD, DVD or Blu-ray Disc — and leaving it on even while it plays.
d_skins are so thin that the disc is read right through the plastic film without distortion or skipping.
And you can also use your computer to write to your recordable CD-R/RWs and DVD-R/RWs with this film snapped underneath it, too. A thin orange rim simply lines the sides of the disc but it shouldn’t interfere with the reading and writing process in a game system, computer, DVD/Blu-ray Disc player or car stereo.
d_skins can also cut down on storage space because you’ll no longer need bulky jewel cases or sleeves.
If you rip a d_skin, just toss it and put on another one. Um, it’s kind of like a condom in this respect — but with a lot less at stake if torn!
d_skins retail for about $8.99 for a 5-pack or $19.99 for a 20-pack.
Sync readers, have you tried this product?
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nice but kind of useless since the area to protect would be the label side because that is where the recording layer is not the reading side, if that side gets scratched it can be repaired by being refurbished but if the label gets damaged you loose your data and are out of luck for recovery.
What?? Wow. There is no data on the label side. Get your facts straight
sTEVE,, U IDIOT. CHROME PLATING OVER PLASTIC THAN A INK LABEL IS PUT ON. SO YES, IF U SCRATCH THE LABEL, YOU RUIN THE DATA. MORE APPARENT ON CHEAPER CD THAN DVD, SINCE DVD CAN BURN BOTH SIDES WITH NO LABELS.
nEXT TIME,, CHECK YOUR INFO STUPID sTEVE
You could have just informed him he was wrong, instead of resorting to upper case letters and name calling. A simple “No you are incorrect” would have been much more civil and appropriate than “sTEVE,, U IDIOT”. Also learn to type “you”.
Thanks for the insults douche… now explain then why in a dvd player the laser is mounted on the bottom and reads the disk from underneath?
The reason scratching the top causes damage is that you can go through the relective layer causing the laser to pass through the disk and then not being able to read the data.
Bill,
I’m with Steve — I think you’re mistaken. The data is on the underside of the disc, therefore that’s the part these skins protect.
Marc
TOP LAYER PAINT/INK
SECOND LAYER CHROME
BOTTOM LAYER PLASTIC
U DON’T NEED TO BE A ROCKET SCIENTIST DING DONG.U SCRATCH THE TOP, U SCRATCH THE DATA.
BILL YOUR CORRECT
No need to argue.Google.
The link is to Tiger Direct U.S. they are not available on the cnadian site.
Hi Pete,
Hmm, I was told they’d ship them to Canada as Amazon.ca doesn’t have any in stock at this time:
http://www.amazon.ca/Skin-Protective-Game-Skins-50/dp/B000WKV0T8/ref=sr_1_7?ie=UTF8&s=videogames&qid=1281011528&sr=8-7
I’ll look into it further now.
Marc
There’s also some question as to whether you actually need a protective layer at all. The DVD format was designed from the outset to be resistant to scratches – both physically and logically – the players are capable of dealing with a great deal of distortion and damage to the data side of the disc. But the debate between Bill and Steve interests me (and MAC you need to calm down and stop shouting at people and calling them names) but I can’t find any definitive answers on the web so far that would settle which side of a disc is worse to scratch. For now I’m leaning toward Steve, since I’ve bought plenty of “label-less” DVDs, which wouldn’t exist if protecting the label-side was as important as you suggest Bill. But please drop a comment with a link if you find a source that backs your claim.
Thanks Simon,
I know you’re a parent too but many of our DVDs, video games and Blu-ray Discs get left around and minor scratches, greasy fingerprints and other guck often means dad has to clean the underside of the disc before it’ll work!
Marc
It does seem that the DATA is stored just under the label…check this site
http://photocollector.net/TipCD.htm
MAC therefore seems to be correct based on the above link.
Still….there is a need to be civil. Adults can accomplish a lot by debate and advice.
Cheers.
I like this product. Personally I have ruined more CD’s by sratching the reading surface than scratching the label regardless of which side is more vulnerable. I have been in a CD factory before, and sorry Mac…you are not competely right. The information is first put onto a thin disk that resembles the disk that comes on the top of a spool of blank disks. Once that is done the disks go into a machine that encapsulates the disk with a protective coating. Once that procedure is completed the disks go into another machine that applies the label. I have heard the top of a CD is more vulnerable to damaging a disk before so the coating could be thinner on top, but my guess is they apply the information to the top side of the little disk prior to encapsulating it with the protective coating.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Optical_media_preservation#Scratches This is what Wikipedia has to say on it.It sounds like CDs and DVDs are different.