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Good label pressings can also suffer for moulds. I have a couple of Deutsche Grammaphon and Decca CDs that also suffered mould attack.

Washing Detergent might be too reactive? well…then something with neutral PH, like…a little body foam that has neutral ph helps? just make sure you wash your hands clean of oil, then use a mild lotion, (like Dove body foam) and use hands to gently clean the CD surface where the laser reads from, and also the centre where your finger sticks through(cos thats where much of oil on fingers will stay).

Sorry to hear about your collection from Cub de Tango. I think this is a potential risks for all CR-Rs, as opposed to the “pressed” CDs that we buy from music stores. They have a maximum shelf life of a few years and can be shorter depending on the brand, the writer used and the speed (slower the better in general) at which the CD-Rs were written at. Fortunately, most of my CDs are “originals”.

When washing, I believe detergent is not advisable. Also, make sure you don’t accidentally leave scratches the top layer (the gold/silver side where you can write on) because I have seen that top layer peel off for the cheaper brands of CD-Rs. Once that happens, the CD is no longer useable.

Are you CDs having mould?

You can actually wash the CDs with water and remove the mould, to a certain degree. The reason is because the outer layer of CD is actually plastic and so its washable, just dun scratch hard on it.

Try that 1st, and see if it helps.

If you are worried, tried it on other less valuable CDs that have mould. I think you can even add a little mild detergent(though I have to confirm 1st). Otherwise, water is workable and I’ve tried it.