Xrthnty

A gold CD in a lift-lock case

A gold compact disc 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 increased resistance to corrosion, in contrast to the ordinary aluminium layer found on normal compact discs. Due to concerns over the incidence of CD rot on early CDs (mainly manufactured by PDO UK), gold CDs were thus seen as a potential solution.^[1]

A lift-lock case viewed from the side, showing the latch mechanism

Lift-lock cases

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.

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
  


• 
  Counting Crows - August and Everything After
  


• 
  David Bowie - The Man Who Sold the World
  


• 
  David Bowie - The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars
  


• 
  David Bowie - Young Americans
  


• 
  David Bowie - Station to Station
  


• 
  David Bowie - Low
  


• 
  David Bowie - "Heroes"
  


• 
  David Bowie - Let's Dance
  


• 
  David Bowie - Changesbowie
  


• 
  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 Power
  


• 
  Michael Jackson - Off the Wall
  


• 
  Michael Jackson - Thriller
  


• 
  Michael Jackson - Bad
  


• 
  Michael Jackson - HIStory: Past, Present and Future, Book I
  


• 
  Michael Jackson - Michael Jackson's Ghosts - Limited Edition Minimax CD
  


• 
  Elton John - Elton John's Greatest Hits
  


• 
  Enya - The Memory of Trees (Japanese limited edition)


• 
  Jefferson Airplane - Surrealistic Pillow
  


• 
  Jethro Tull - Aqualung
  


• 
  Jean-Michel Jarre - Équinoxe
  


• 
  Jean-Michel Jarre - Oxygène
  


• 
  John Coltrane - Blue Train
  


• 
  John Coltrane and Paul Quinichette - Cattin' with Coltrane and Quinichette
  


• 
  John Lennon - Imagine
  


• 
  Metallica - Master of Puppets
  


• 
  Nirvana - Nevermind
  


• 
  Nirvana - In Utero
  


• 
  Pat Benatar - In the Heat of the Night
  


• 
  Paul & Linda McCartney - Ram
  


• 
  Pink Floyd - Atom Heart Mother
  


• 
  Pink Floyd - The Dark Side of the Moon
  


• 
  Pink Floyd - Meddle
  


• 
  Pink Floyd - Wish You Were Here
  


• 
  Pink Floyd - The Wall
  


• 
  Sonny Rollins - Sonny Rollins and the Contemporary Leaders
  


• 
  The Police - Ghost in the Machine
  


• 
  R.E.M. - Murmur
  


• 
  Red Hot Chili Peppers - Mother's Milk
  


• 
  The Who - Who's Next
  


• 
  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

References