Freaky CD!

I was ripping some CDs the other day. I slipped a Kate Bush CD single into the Mac’s slot loading drive and instead of reading it for a moment and displaying the track list in iTunes, it just seeked and seeked and seeked. I ejected the disc and immediately put it back in and it did the same thing. The old LG burner in my PC is a far superior CD ripper, both in speed and reading ability, so I figure I’d have to rip the disc, write it to a CD-RW, and then finally rip it on the Mac. It’s happened once or twice before.

So I ejected the disc again and saw this on the read-side:

IMG_9186.CRW: Digital Rebel, EF 85mm 1:1.8 @ 1/30, f/2.8, 400 ISO, 12mm extension tube

Don’t ask me what it is, but you can see it as easily as I can. The disc was in a jewelcase without even a paper insert. It looks like some sort of crystal has grown across the surface. I ran the disc under water and rubbed my thumb over the pattern. It did not come off, but it has a definite texture. Windex worked well enough with a soft cloth that after some serious rubbing, I was able to clean the data portion of the disc (the lighter area in the photo) well enough for a good rip.

I still have no idea what the heck that crap is!