How to Clean a Dirty CD Player

Over time, compact disc players become dirty, causing your music to skip. Cleaning is required after about every 20 hours of use. But most modern home audio players and most CD ROM drives do not have pop-up tops that allow access to clean the device. Instead, you will need a CD cleaning disc, which is inserted through a tray.

Things You'll Need

• CD cleaning disc

Instructions

1. Purchase a CD cleaning disc, which looks like a CD but has two brushes that clean the laser. This disc can be used to clean home audio players and CD ROM drives that use trays. Note that you will need a special disc to clean automotive CD players and CD ROM drives without trays because the cleaning disc's brushes could get stuck in the devices' eject mechanisms. For more information on cleaning discs, see "Resources" at the bottom of this page.

2. Open the CD tray and insert the cleaning disc with the arrows pointing in the correct direction. Let the player read the CD. Press play if the CD does not automatically start.

3. Let the CD play for 15 seconds. No sound will come out, but as the CD spins, its brushes clean the dust off the laser. Press stop if the CD does not automatically do so within 15 seconds. Remove the CD and save it for your next cleaning.

References

• How Everything Works: Compact Disc Players

Resources

• Read this Article in Spanish
• Automotive CD cleaner disc
• CD/CD ROM lens cleaner