People still can't hold a disc properly after 15+ years

[Eri]

I know in the scheme of things this rant is very "important" but I'm aggravated.

I used to go to Blockbuster a long time ago. In the present, I now use Redbox or Netflix.

Every time, without fail, there are multiple finger prints all over the discs.

Why are people still doing this?

It's been FIFTEEN YEARS since dvds came out and people still don't know how to hold the disc correctly. It's even worse when I get blu-ray and they have fingerprints, you'd think, at least those people especially would know better. But no, they don't.

 

[tippy2k2]

My guess is that it's either:

A. It's not theirs so they don't give a fuck
B. They have kids and kids are dumb (Alright, fine, the kid probably just doesn't know any better)

 

[Powereaver]

People just dont tend to care.. with the invention of disc cleaning people stopped giving a rats about proper handling of discs when its very simple to carry in general, darn you disc cleaner!

 

[The Night Angel]

People are very slow learners, especially when the thing to learn is very simple. They think that because it's so simple it mustn't matter or something. This bothers me too.

 

[ace_of_something]

CD's have been around with widespread use for at least 20+ years. What I don't get is how people lose the cases to their dvds, cds, and video games. It makes NO sense to me.

 

[A Raging Emo]

I don't understand;

Why people get their fingers all over disks. You put your middle-finger through the centre, and your index finger along the edge! That is how you hold a disk!

Why people put disks in cases that don't belong to that particular disk.

 

[Eri]

Anal much? Dust and scratches matter, finger prints don't.

From the Optical Storage Technology Association:

Should fingerprints and dust be cleaned off a writable DVD disc?
Like CD, DVD technology is robust and employs several design elements to minimize the effects of fingerprints and minor scratches on data integrity. The first line of defense comes from the physical structure of the disc and the location of the data-bearing marks and lands. The reading laser beam shines through the disc?s substrate focusing beyond the contaminated surface directly onto the marks and lands beneath. In concert with advanced error detection and correction capabilities minor debris and abrasions are largely ignored. That said, handling care should always be taken as above. A dusty disc should be blown off so that the dust does not enter the drive mechanism and accumulate on the lens or other optical components. It should be noted as well that fingerprints, dust and scratches have a greater impact on recording than is the case with reading a disc since contaminants reduce the effectiveness of the writing laser by obscuring its beam from the disc?s recording layer.

By your logic it shouldn't matter if someone touches and puts their hand-prints all over your cars windows and your houses windows. It doesn't harm it right? It's annoying and there's no need for it, is the point.

 

[ThePenguinKnight]

I've rented a movie from Redbox that came out that very day, and the disc was broken in two. I doubt it was an accident since the bottom of the disc halves were scratched to living hell. Some people are just assholes.

 

[chaosbedlam]

i put it down to most people don't learn until it affects them. these finger print painters obviously have not had a disk fail to read due to needing to be cleaned.

 

[redisforever]

I tend to put my discs back into the box immediately, and never let it get scratched, but that took me a while to start doing regularly. I used to just leave them lying around, and when my movies all ended up getting scratched to hell, and became useless, I started to handle them carefully.

 

[viranimus]

CD's have been around for at least 20+ years. What I don't get is how people lose the cases to their dvds, cds, and video games. It makes NO sense to me.

1982 so ... 30 years. And if we havent learned within 30 years we are never going to.

Though I always thought thats why they made Bluray discs much harder to damage.

As for dvds & games cases, yeah I agree.. CD jewel cases its understandable people loose them because they were so fragile they almost always broke.

 

[Shoggoth2588]

My guess is that it's either:

A. It's not theirs so they don't give a fuck
B. They have kids and kids are dumb (Alright, fine, the kid probably just doesn't know any better)

Personally, I blame the kids. A is probably the most common but B comes into play a lot. Especially if the fingerprints look...stained. I worked at a blockbuster for a while and didn't really notice a lot of that outside of kids DVDs though (staining, not general finger-prints).

I've rented a movie from Redbox that came out that very day, and the disc was broken in two. I doubt it was an accident since the bottom of the disc halves were scratched to living hell. Some people are just assholes.

This is also a big thing. People can be complete inconsiderate dicks.

 

[EternalFacepalm]

Why people get their fingers all over disks. You put your middle-finger through the centre, and your index finger along the edge! That is how you hold a disk!

Or, you know, you hold it around the edges. That works too.

OT: Because they're bloody stupid, and they always will be. Cue fifteen "losing faith in humanity" threads.

 

[Sable Gear]

My guess is that it's either:

A. It's not theirs so they don't give a fuck
B. They have kids and kids are dumb (Alright, fine, the kid probably just doesn't know any better)

Kids that have probably never seen a disc except when the family rented a DVD.

I dunno, man. I just dunno.

 

[Owyn_Merrilin]

CD's have been around for at least 20+ years. What I don't get is how people lose the cases to their dvds, cds, and video games. It makes NO sense to me.

1982 so ... 30 years. And if we havent learned within 30 years we are never going to.

Though I always thought thats why they made Bluray discs much harder to damage.

As for dvds & games cases, yeah I agree.. CD jewel cases its understandable people loose them because they were so fragile they almost always broke.

If you think about it, it's even longer than that; I know from experience that vinyl LPs are horribly sensitive to fingerprints, and are a lot more difficult to clean than optical media. Presumably the old shellac 78's and wax cylinders had similar problems with finger prints and sound fidelity. We've had well over 100 years to get this right; people just don't care, especially with how much more robust optical media is when compared to the old needle and groove systems.

snip

I have an answer to your question about losing DVD and game cases: they get rid of them. My parents boxed up all their CD and DVD cases years ago, putting the actual discs in binders. A lot of people do that, but also throw out the cases instead of storing them somewhere like my parents do. What amazes me is people who still have intact boxes from old consoles that used cardboard boxes; those things were meant to be disposable. I've got a few that are still intact, but they're all much more recent purchases, after I realized how much more the games are worth with the boxes, not to mention after I got my first taste of how good they look up on the shelf.

 

[Revnak_v1legacy]

Large fingers perhaps? My fingers are pretty huge and I find it impossible to fit any of my fingers into the hole in the middle. I suppose the answer is to grip it along the edges all the way around, but that is a fairly unnatural way to grasp something. Some people just don't care enough, and some people have fat, short fingers.