I’ve found a weird issue with my CD player. It will skip like crazy on any discs like this that have that visible outer ring on the underside of the disc (that is, the side that the player reads): http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_mdf27 ... o1_500.jpg

All discs without this ring play fine. My CD player is a Sony model from the early 90’s.

Are these a newer type of disc that is not backwards compatible with older CD players or something?

That's weird. Probably around half of the cds I have have an outer ring similar to that. The outer ring is just the area on the disc that has no data on it, varying in sizes depending on how long the album is, for instance I have a 10 minute long cd that has an outer ring 4 times or more larger sized then the inner ring. I assume your cd player doesn't detect that there is no data there and tries to read the outer edge because it thinks there is data on it, causing the cds to skip. Probably should get a newer cd player.

what's the contents of that disc you photographed?
is that an unburned area, or a data ring instead of an audio ring (is this a CD you burned yourself, or a commercially pressed album?) (I vaguely recall some issue like older players having trouble with multimedia CDs (e.g., where a band puts the music video of their single on the album so you can see it on your PC, but otherwise have an audio CD for your stereo)

it's weird, though, that it doesn't just realize the CD is over and switch trays to the next cd (or repeat from the start, or whatever setting the player is on). could it be that the CD burning wasn't finalized so there's information the player needs (so it knows to stop) which isn't on there? (isn't finalizing a disc needed to make it universally readable?)

I think you should update your CD player.
Do you have issues with CD-Rs too?

These are all commercial discs. The pictured one was a Judas Iscariot album, but I have a number of albums with this issue (like the newest WITTR) from major labels and they all skip with the ring. I never really listen to burned discs, so I'm not sure if it would have the same issue. Also, these discs are just music, no multimedia.

I was assuming a new CD player would be the best fix. Bummer.

mike40k are the discs all new, do they have anything else in common?

Mostly new (maybe a few bought used), nothing else in common. Various bands from various labels. It's just the type of disc that they have in common.

your cd player is rooted, get a new one, awesome

I admit I had to look up the meaning of rooted in this context.

Bit of a bummer, since it plays other discs completely fine.

yeah she's rooted mate, it's a fucked unit.
it'll be the laser not reading the 'blank' area, unless it's a really good player it won't be worth fixing.
use the pc to play cds instead for a while perhaps.

try any other old stereo you can find (university, gym, friends, etc.). if they work, then you could just get something off ebay, rather than needing a brand-new machine.