Do audio CDs wear out the drive?




My dad has warned me not to play audio CDs on the PC because his friend said that doing so wears out the read head in the CD-ROM drive. I told him that CD-ROM drives read data with a laser beam, not a magnetic head like a floppy drive or hard disk, but he still insists that the read head in the drive wears out faster with audio CDs. Is he right?
- Birju Patel


Thankfully, no. Although it might be possible that an audio CD taxes your CD-ROM drive's laser and stepper motor more than the average CD-ROM-based game or reference work does, I've never heard of a worn-out CD-ROM drive. It'll probably become obsolete before it gives up the ghost.
- Scott Spanbauer


Category: Hardware
Issue: Mar 1997
Pages: 177

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