Am I to understand that you solved the problem by cleaning the CD and lens ?
Generally you should not clean a CD lens by blowing on it. You can leave spit on the lens. I owned 5-6 CD players over the last 15 years or so, and never had to clean the lenses on any of them. Had some for 10 yrs+. I would go to radio shack and ask for a lens cleaning solution and a clean swab to do the lens cleaning. I think they sell compressed air too. Try the compressed air first. Don't try to use anything around the house because it is probably not clean and lint free.
For CD's, there are some products out there for cleaning CD's. See www.audioadvisor.com. I've occasionally cleaned fingerprinted cd's using dish soap, water and a drying cloth. I understand that you need to wipe the CD in a radial fashion rather than circumferential so that if you scar the surface, you will leave a radial scratch that will affect playback less.
Generally you should not clean a CD lens by blowing on it. You can leave spit on the lens. I owned 5-6 CD players over the last 15 years or so, and never had to clean the lenses on any of them. Had some for 10 yrs+. I would go to radio shack and ask for a lens cleaning solution and a clean swab to do the lens cleaning. I think they sell compressed air too. Try the compressed air first. Don't try to use anything around the house because it is probably not clean and lint free.
For CD's, there are some products out there for cleaning CD's. See www.audioadvisor.com. I've occasionally cleaned fingerprinted cd's using dish soap, water and a drying cloth. I understand that you need to wipe the CD in a radial fashion rather than circumferential so that if you scar the surface, you will leave a radial scratch that will affect playback less.