Hi,

I play the same CD for my child to sleep every night for over two years. I'm noticing lately that every day there is a white powder that builds up inside the CD player and on the CD's surface. I clean it every night before playing it again and in the morning the white powder is there again. I even replaced the CD player twice for different models but the problem is still happening. What is this? Could this dust or powder be harmful?

I hear a scratch sound when playing the CD.

Thanks for your help.

Burn a new one.

Thanks for the reply, but I still have my questions unanswered. What is this white powder? Is it harmful?

If by some chance you are still using baby powder on your little one-that may be the source. I agree that you should burn a new CD just in case it is flaking.
Is this harmful? The answer is yes in the long run. You have already replaced the player and the problem persists. So try the suggestion and consider my thought as far fetched as you may think it is.

Can't you send the powder in for a chemical analyse? That should give you the answer to what it is and if it's harmful.

No, I don't use and never used baby powder.

I'm just really curious because I can't find any reference for such thing in the internet and I'm wondering why this happens and I was expecting to get more people to say "yes, I had this problem before", "this is a known problem if you play the same CD for a long time", "this is common" or "this is due to this and that".... It seems to me that this is not common at all....

So what kind of CD is it? Store bought or one you burned yourself? Only thing I can think of is a LightScribe or inkjet printable CDR, which have a special layer on top that could possibly be scratched off or deteriorate over time. A scratch sound in 3 different players? That would be odd. I would copy the original CD to a new CDR and see if it helps.