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.

Many gold CDs, including those from Mobile Fidelity and DCC 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.

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Wikipedia