Hi Janet, > the issue of solvents in the paint possibly soaking > thru the label and loosening the vapor deposited > foil reflective layer on the pitting occurred to me, > too. this is why I originally speculated that we > need some kind of clear vinyl donut shaped labels > just like the present paper gummed labels sold as > kits for labeling cd's your burn yourself. <SNIP>
I would steer clear of vinyl - despite its widespread use for all sorts of things, including some CD storage sleeves. The problem that I see with some types of vinyls is that (now I don't know the correct term here, so please bear with me) they "react" with some other plastics when in contact with them. Including reacting to certain types of lacquers (not all types of lacquers, though, evidently). If I'm not mistaken, I believe I read once that at least some brands of CD-R have a *lacquer* top-coat. I know for a *fact* from unfortunate personal experience, that certain vinyls react with certain lacquers, 'cause I ruined a very nice musical-instrument finish once from putting a vinyl strap on it and putting the whole shebang back in the case for a week or so. No excess heat, no sun, no car-travel, just the contact alone, where the strap touched the instrument's neck, caused the vinyl strap to eat into the finish of the neck. Not a pretty sight. The finish was relatively new, though, maybe that had something to do with it (the instrument was only a year or so old, which is "new" in "instrument-years"). I hear sporadic reports that this sort of thing still happens (you'd think the manufacturers would learn, but apparently not). Apparently, however, there must be different types (or grades or whatever), of vinyl, though, nowadays; I don't think all of them are that reactive (or whateaver the proper term is). Someone told me once, with regards to vinyl, that one of the bad things that vinyl does is something called "outgassing" (??) - I should look that up before posting but short of time right now - I know I had 3-year-old vinyl mini-blinds that *never* lost that very strong vinyl smell (and usually stuff like that doesn't bother me in the slightest - I'm *not* highly odor-sensitive, like I am with hearing - so you know it *had* to be pretty strong). It never even diminished much, over time, like one would expect. Also, back to CD-R's, I'd be very careful what adhesives were used in any labels. The only manufacturer that I've seen address the adhesive-safety issue was the old Stomper labels (might still, haven't bought any in a long time), where they claim the adhesive is safe for disks. The other label manufacturers don't mention word one about it. Maybe they just *assume* it's safe, w/o testing (ala GMO food...oops! political, ceasing-and-desisting *right* *now*, on *that* line...) Anyway, it's not outside the realm of possibility that certain adhesives could have their *own* issues as far as damage to certain plastics, or slowly releasing solvents that could damage stuff. (I wonder about that rubber-cement smell of certain adhesives - if my insensitive nose can *smell* it, then there must be *some* of its molecules floating around, being released into the air/surfaces/whatever, right? Maybe? Couldn't that react to other things, possibly? Something else that concerns me about adhesives, speaking generally now, is that often the glue-joint itself turns out to be *stronger* than the thing it's glued to. I used to meddle around with wood-working as a kid, and I remember having some items fail, but *not* where they were glued - rather a short distance away. The glue-joint itself held quite nicely, but the wood itself, in a different area, pulled apart when put under stress/stretched/whatever (several types of glue - hide glue, white glue, and - (later, eek, a no-no) - epoxy). I would be concerned, with CD-R (speculation follows), that any possible adhesive/glue *shrinkage* that may occur over the course of time as the adhesive ages, or maybe tiny (barely visible with naked eye) *air bubbles* that get trapped between the label and CD-R surface at the time of application, could later conceivably cause the fragile underlying layer to weaken, or start the process of having it simply peel off in places, taking the fragile layers with it. Of course my concerns would be for archival stuff; one probably wouldn't notice any affects one way or the other for short-term storage (a couple years or whatever). I realize that zillions of people already use stick-on labels, and I haven't heard on the evening news ;) anything about "adhesives damage CD-R", so maybe it's nothing to worry about. I would like to see the manufacturers figure out a way to address some of these concerns, during the manufacturing process. Apparently not enough CD-R users are concerned about it, yet, though. Or like me, just making so many duplicates of stuff to have backups in case one gets scratched - I'll refrain from economics comment here ;) I agree that some supplemental protection would be welcomed by some people including me, if it would be proven safe, but meanwhile I just try to keep the discs stored safely and make sure they don't get any abuse (zero-tolerance there, so to speak). Some brands of media seem susceptible to bending-related damage, as well (I guess it must somehow weaken the shiny layer, especially if there's already scratches there). For lugging stuff around in pack/purse/whatever, I don't use the new "thin" (half-thickness) CD jewel-cases which offer very little protection against bending (although they work very nicely for home storage), but rather just use the old-style thick jewel cases, or sometimes one of those metal-clad sleeve gizmos (for stuff that's not hauled in and out very often, so little scratch-damage potential there from built-up abrasive particles or whatever in the sleeves). -Jamie Marie . __________________________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Yahoo! Mail Plus - Powerful. Affordable. Sign up now. http://mailplus.yahoo.com -- PCI-PowerMacs is sponsored by <http://lowendmac.com/> and... Small Dog Electronics http://www.smalldog.com | Refurbished Drives | -- Sonnet & PowerLogix Upgrades - start at $169 | & CDRWs on Sale! | Support Low End Mac <http://lowendmac.com/lists/support.html> PCI-PowerMacs list info: <http://lowendmac.com/lists/pci-powermacs.shtml> --> AOL users, remove "mailto:"; Send list messages to: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To unsubscribe, email: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> For digest mode, email: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Subscription questions: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Archive:<http://www.mail-archive.com/pci-powermacs%40mail.maclaunch.com/> Using a Mac? Free email & more at Applelinks! http://www.applelinks.com
