why not in circles?

[bobdrywalls]

when you wipe a cd to clean it or whatever, why shouldnt you wipe in a circle? i'm not a smartass or anything, but i've always been curious of that.

[omnedon]

When you rub it, you risk making tiny scratches. Since it reeds in a circular groove, a circular scratch is very bad.

[bargora]

Yeah. A radial scratch creates only a short disruption in the laser's reading. A circular scratch creates a long disruption, the kind that can make the laser lose track of where to start reading again. When that happens, good luck getting the disc to read unless you can buff out the circular scratch.

[nesuser2]

i don't think i know everything, but for everything i DO know........wow.......i never knew that......i'm in total amazement right now.... X_x

[rbudrick]

Plus, when you wipe to the edge, you don't just smear the dirt/fingerprints/etc around... you wipe it to the edge so the gunk isn't smeared in the middle (supposing your cloth didn't pick it all up). I find stuff comes off my discs quicker when I wipe to the edge.

-Rob