Best way to clean my old CD’s

@richardbrand 

There is a world of difference between cleaning LPs and cleaning polycarbonate discs.  Many LPs from back in the day were ill treated, then stored in non climate controlled environments for years, and it absolutely makes sense to have to use sophisticated cleaning techniques to try and maximize their performance.

  CDs, otoh, are easy peasy.  They will rarely need it-as you say do it only if it won’t play-and a simple solvents and a good cloth with do it

I appreciate being reminded that they are polycarbonate. Thinking back on items I’ve encountered that were , motorcycle windshields, helmet visors and the interior windows of the high security building I worked in. I forget that they are essentially Lexan and that’s some tuff stuff. We had windows that were two layers of glass with a layer of Lexan sandwiched in the middle and overall about an inch thick. When these windows were defeated and needed replacement immediately, maintenance used 1” thick Lexan until an appropriate window could be manufactured. Definitely off topic but what the heck. Fortunately I acquired a few CD’s of artists I can’t stand so I can experiment with them. 😆 Have a Great Day , Mike B. 

Windex and Kleenex.

@mahler123 

Seems we are in furious agreement 

Old CDs comne in basically 2 species: one is that they simply need to be cleaned with one of the methods already mentioned. And two, they're scratched to the point that they're not playable. 

There are several mildly abrasive polishing mechanisms on the market. Mine is about 20 years old and still works well but is no longer made. It's a small battery powered machine that slowly rotates the disc while  the abrasive wheel polishes it. 

I've had a couple discs where this machine could not remove deep scratches.