hello everyone-
when i play a new cd with no scratches it sounds like it has small scratches. i can hear a clicking in the background. i thought it was my speakers, but when i listen to music that is already on my computer and not on a cd it sounds fine thats why i am thinking that there is something wrong with my disk drive. does it need to be cleaned? if it does then how would i do this?

-thank you-

Cleaning disks with little brushes are readily available to clean any dust off the lens.

You should find them at any electronics store, or in that department in a Mart.

Cheers

It won't hurt anything to try the cleaning disks, but if the clicking sounds more mechanical... like it's coming from the drive rather that the music... your cd rom may be failing. Fortunately they're not expensive to replace anymore. If you can, I'd recommend upgrading to a combo dvd-cd reader and writer, if it ends up you have to replace the drive.

I agree with mammabear, one of the advantages of CD and DVD recordings is that there will never be any scratches or magnetic degradation that you would see on a LP or cassette. If the CD is not a pressed copy then the media used to copy the music can also degrade over time, but it would simply either stop working or start breaking up or hiccupping.

Try this, take a long handled plastic or wooden kitchen spoon and place the spoon end against your ear and the other end against the case of the drive and see if you can hear the noise though the spoon. If you can then you know that it is the drive.

Well, I'll be darned! I've never heard of that before. Great tip!!

i guess it is not just a cd drive. i only have one disk drive on my computer and i am able to play and burn cd's and dvd's. i put in a music cd and i dont really know how to describe it, but it sounded like a lighy flicking coming from my disk drive. how could the drive be failing? i put in a dvd and the movie would "flick" every few seconds. i can only tell that there is something wrong with it when i listen to music or or watch a movie. if i insert a non music or movie disk i have no problems..
thank you guys for all the help-

Is the noise coming from the drive?

i think so. i only hear it when a disk is being played and it isnt coming from my speakers.

anyone?

Well they do go bad. I have an old one that sounds like a freight train, but it still works
Mark

Ahh an old mechanics trick

so should i purchase a disk from the store that cleans the lense or should i take a can of air to it?

-thank you

I personally wouldn't use air. There are some things in there you could knock loose. This comes from experience because I did it
Mark

what would be a good price for one of those?
-thanks

Newegg has a couple that I would have myself, the Lite-On has the fastest reading speed on the market at the moment and enjoys a great reputation for their firmware. The Samsung isn't flashy but Samsung keeps building these dependable drives while others go up and down in their quality. I have a NEC 3550A that I love, but I would not buy one of their new drives that they have conspired to build with Sony. If you want to go for the best, IMHO, go for a plextor, but be prepared to spend seventy dollars and upward for one.

thanks