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Karlson-Martini revives racquetball Page 7
Friday, May 21, 2004
Since 1900 University of Oregon Eugene, Oregon
Volume 160, Issue 160
The way the music dies
CD rot renders compact discs unreadable, causing users to lose data permanently
Manufactured CD
Newly Burned CD
The writing laser
burns the dye
creating a mark,
taken with the
unmarked dots CD
players reads this
as binary code and
plays music.
The dye fades
leaving an
indistinguishable
difference between
burned marks and
unburned marks, the
CD player reads it as
a blank disc.
Symptoms of Rot:
Pinholes in aluminum data layer.
Oxidation in
aluminum data layer.
thkk plastic base
writable data
lacquer
thick plastic base
aluminum data layer
- lacquer
paint label
/*
paint label
By Steven Neuman
News Reporter
rT"They were supposed to last for
100 years. They were sup
-L posed to become family heir
looms, allowing home movies and
pictures to literally defy time and
keep memories as fresh as the day
they were made.
But the compact disc, as it turns
out, may not exactly last forever.
In fact, some CDs undergo "CD
rot," the slow, gradual destruction
of the data they contain.
In manufactured CDs, the "rot" is
characterized by pin-prick holes in
the silver, or a clouding and darken
ing of the silver surface which results
in garbled data. On burned
writable and re-writable CDs the
problem is often invisible but has
the same effects, according to Sam
Crow, a technical assistant in the
EMU Computer Lab.
"The manufactured CDs corrode
over time and the discs won't be able
to be read," Crow said. "For burned
CDs, the dye corrodes due to light ex
posure and due to just age."
Colin Kelly, aerial map coordina
tor in Knight Library's government
documents section, said CDs may
iiyid jonnson ana Eleven nteuman illustrators
not be a reliable storage format.
"I don't consider CDs a viable
long-term archive system, and I don't
think anyone should," Kelly said.
"Most of our valuable digitized im
ages we keep on hard drive, and if 1 do
use (CDs), it would not be for more
than five years at most."
Kelly handles large images,
Turn to ROT, page 12A
ASUO Executive reflects on tenure
President Maddy Melton and
Vice President Eddy Morales
say they have achieved many
of their original goals
By Jennifer Marie Bear
News Editor
With fewer than five days left in office,
ASUO President Maddy Melton and
ASUO Vice President Eddy Morales' ad
ministration is quickly coming to an end.
And while they had their share of un
fortunate incidents during their tenure
— the ASUO Constitution Court re
buked Melton for failing to fill empty
positions fast enough, and Morales was
charged with assault for allegedly attack
ing a female University student but was
not convicted — Melton and Morales
achieved many of the goals they set dur
ing their election campaign.
"We really accomplished so much,"
Melton said.
Melton and Morales centered their
campaign on four main issues: Increas
ing student representation on University
decision-making bodies, supporting in
ternational students, changing the Uni
versity Housing contract to give students
a two-week grace period and advocating
for the interests of law students and grad
uate students.
In an April 1, 2003 interview with the
Emerald, Melton and Morales said they
chose these goals because they believed
they were attainable and would help a
large number of students.
"All of the issues that we have picked
Turn to GOALS, page 6A
Emerald
Melton (left) and Morales say they are proud of their accomplishments.
Average
gas prices
exceed $2
Per gallon
At $2.27 per gallon, Oregon’s
average gas price is the
third highest in the nation
By Steven Neuman
News Reporter
normal s'ZmlnterZ'Z ** b*y°nd
the West Coast I ! Gas pr,ces °n
« 24 per gallon lh,‘s f °f
,n Price from the same Hme the n ""
sSSKSSSast
deeded S2 Per8a,l°nforM^^. has
fetlinfilliestniKofmd 'hl' COUnlr>' are
inginluge^e 8 he,nCreaS“'includ
Turn to GAS, page 3A
Alumna gift
to improve
accessibility
of archives
Mary and Richard Solaris $1 4
million gift will help improve the
organization of the archives
By Chelsea Duncan
SeniQr News Reporter
-dems4S“a8nd^rUniWrSi'y
hers better access to the n""7 mem
12,000 boxes of arrhi 1 University's
date back to87^ ,materials' w^h
sitypress release^ accordln81° a llniver
huSd-l'et^^^3'-"^
board chairman nf r ■ president and
Co. Richard SoJar -aH,tC
which will endow rh t donated gift,
anarchiJis,epnod°“,nheUn'VerSi,y'shis'°ri
an alid'archivist'said m histori'
1° better catalogue the archives and do
Turn to GIFT, page 12A
WEATHER
INSIDE
NEXT ISSUE
Campus buzz.6A Crossword.10A
Classifieds.10A Nation & World.4A
Commentary.2A Sports.7A
Marissa Jones
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