Gold Compact Disc
A gold CD is one in which gold is used in place of the super pure aluminium commonly used as the reflective coating on ordinary CDs or silver on ordinary CD-Rs
Gold CDs can be played in any CD player. Blank gold CD-Rs are also available. They can be recorded in any CD recorder and played in any CD player.
The advantage of the gold reflection layer is its resistance to corrosion, in contrast to the ordinary aluminum layer found on normal compact discs, which reacts with the glue and plastic material and gradually becomes transparent over time, ultimately resulting in reading errors or total playback failure.
Lift-lock cases
Many gold CDs, including those from Mobile Fidelity and DCC (Digital Compact Classics), are packaged in lift-lock cases, a special type of case where the CD is lifted out of the case automatically and a latch unlocked when opened. The advantage of this design is that only the edges of the disc are handled when removing it from the case, and the disc is never subjected to any bending force while removing it. From the outside, they appear almost identical to a standard jewel case. They have the same dimensions as a standard jewel case, and use standard booklets and back cards.
Examples
- ABBA - Gold: Greatest Hits
- Al Stewart - Last Days of the Century
- Blondie - Parallel Lines
- Blood, Sweat & Tears - Child Is Father to the Man
- Bryan Adams - Reckless
- Jimmy Buffett - Changes in Latitudes, Changes in Attitudes
- Jimmy Buffett - Son of a Son of a Sailor
- Jimmy Buffett - Songs You Know by Heart
- Bob Dylan - Highway 61 Revisited
- Bob Dylan - Blonde on Blonde
- The Doors - Strange Days
- The Eagles - Hell Freezes Over
- Joe Jackson - Night and Day
- Joe Jackson - Will Powerยด
- Michael Jackson - HIStory: Past, Present and Future, Book I
- Michael Jackson - Bad
- Michael Jackson - Limited Edition Minimax CD
- Michael Jackson - Thriller
- Elton John - Elton John's Greatest Hits
- Enya - The Memory of Trees (Japanese limited edition)
- Jefferson Airplane - Surrealistic Pillow
- Jethro Tull - Aqualung
- John Coltrane - Blue Train
- John Coltrane and Paul Quinichette - Cattin' with Coltrane and Quinichette
- John Lennon - Imagine
- Nirvana - Nevermind
- Nirvana - In Utero
- Pat Benatar - In the Heat of the Night
- Pink Floyd - The Dark Side of the Moon
- Pink Floyd - The Wall
- The Police - Ghost in the Machine
- R.E.M. - Murmur
- Red Hot Chili Peppers - Mother's Milk
- Counting Crows - August and Everything After
- Metallica - Master of Puppets
- The Who - Who's Next
- Paul & Linda McCartney - Ram
- Yuridia - Entre Mariposas
See also
- Compact disc
- Enhanced CD
- Remastering
- CD rot
- Gold album
- Audiophile
- Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab (MFSL)
- Super Audio CD
- Extended Resolution Compact Disc