CDs And Green Markers. Please Don’t Laugh.


I’m sorry. I apologize. If anything has been done to death, it’s this. And yet . . . 

I was pulling “Darkness On The Edge Of Town” out of my CD player the other day and wondering if Bruce had really made peace with his father when I noticed the edge of the disc was green. Looking through my collection, I found a bunch of them so marked. “Let It Be” by The Replacements. “Murmur.” Stuff that came out during the brief period after the introduction of the CD and before the green pen became an embarrassment. 

I should give a quick kudos to the albums that have survived countless culling that keeps my active collection at about 500 discs. Discs that are easily stored because I always take the discs and printed media out of the ridiculous plastic “jewel” cases and put them in DiscSox, an invention I can’t believe has been overlooked by the Nobel committee. 500 discs fits into five trays from Office Depot and the whole collection takes up about 16x30 inches and the height of a CD. I can’t imagine living with the original packaging. 

I never A/B’ed any of the albums with the green marking. Never looked into the science of the green pen. Back in the day, it was cheap, it was easy, and it was supposed to work. Why not try it? When it became a laughingstock, I stopped. 

But like skinny ties, I assume that green markers have come in and out of vogue many times since 1982. I love a good tweak and wonder if anyone has justified the use of the green marker. I’m not looking far a scientific explanation. Herbie’s Super Black Hole actually works but without anything close to a reason for doing so. I’d be thrilled if the same was true if green pens. 

Besides, those looking for science in audio forums should familiarize themselves with a priori reasoning, and the problems attendant upon it. 

Where have I gone? Why so much wandering? Is it because the initial question is so stupid? Still, I’d like to know: Has anything happened since, say, 1985, that would make greening the edge of CDs sensible?

If not, I promise to apologize and slink quietly back into the darkness.

paul6001

@paul6001 --OP, this thread has been invaluable to me--not for the green marker about which i won't comment--but for the CD storage solution you presented above.  El Wifo has demanded i move CD collection and your solution will allow me to place entirely within a cabinet in an organized, flip-through system that saves a lot of space--cheap and effective--Thanks again

Life changing, right? I don’t know what I would do if I had to stack up those plastic boxes. It’s a mystery why everyone hasn’t changed. The “jewel case” was invented by an assistant manager in the shipping department at Sony in 1979 and we’ve been stuck with it ever since. It’s like 35mm film. A hundred years ago, guy who started Leica designed it to shoot in an unwieldy 2x3 format and photographers have been cropping ever since. Kudos to Apple for inching towards something better. 

I don’t know about you but even after 1,000 discs I still feel gratified every time I put everything into a DiscSock and toss the plastic box.

Sorry for chiming in so late. Since the „invention“ of green paint I have been using it and changed to black ink (Edding permanent) some time later. Most A/B listening tests resulted in a better performance of all kinds and genres of music. So I automatically apply black paint on newly acquired (SA)CDs; it’s become a habit. If in doubt, why not just trying it for yourself? It costs ‚nothing‘ but a little time. (FWIW, I listen with Krell Cipher SACD Player and Conrad-Johnson PR-12 tube amps.) Good luck & enjoy the music!

Paul I am playing Cd by Mary Chaplin Carpenter it sounds so good, I look there the green marker , I applied many many years ago.it works.

I remember the green marker days, as previously mentioned, I have the German Edge cutter machine, which is gathering dust (make me a reasonable offer) Machina Dynamica has been in the taming scattered laser light game for decades. His latest and GREATEST product is called NEW DARK MATTER. It looks like Mica, is applied to the tray under the CD and absorbs/neutralizes all? scattered laser light inside the mechanism, which is the reason for greening.

Don’t think twice: do it