The computer isn’t reading my son’s Arthur learning game disc. Of course, this isn’t the first time a compact disc in his collection has gone bad on us. Of course, without the grime and scratches on the surface of these CDs, how would I know if it belonged to him or me without my reading glasses on?

I’m accustomed to taking the discs down to our favorite video store and having them run through one of those repair machines. It only costs $2 a pop and the results have been admirable.

But maybe it’s time to take repair in-house. I was reminded of this when I received a press release from a company that makes disc repair machines for corporate use. It got me thinking: Are these things available for consumers too? PriceGrabber says they are. I found the Alera Technologies DVD/CD Disc Repair Kit here.

According to the description, you open the lid, put a few drops of magic repair solution on the repair wheel, insert the scratched disc and press “Repair.” It comes with three different wheels — one for repair, cleaning and buffering (I’m guessing this is akin to choosing a sheet of sandpaper.)

Anybody out there got experience with these devices? More vitally, do you think I could pawn it off — I mean, wrap it up — as a birthday present to my son?

Posted on February 16th, 2008 by dian