problem reading CD

[BinyaminGavriel]

I burned a 700 MB .avi onto a CD-R (generic no-name), and I was able to play it just fine. However, when I tried to play it again at a later date, my computer freezes up as if the drive can't read the CD. After a few minutes, it "unfreezes". Windows explorer shows that the CD has 700MB on it, but the onlyu file that turns up is a 44kb cda file.
I'm running 98se, but I had a similar experience on an XP machine.
Any advice?

[sh03z]

yes, the dye underneath the reflective layer has gone bad...

that can happen over time, especially with cheap CDRs...

to prevent that use the dark blue or gold/silver CDs, not the cheap ones but the real ones...

There's a lot of different type of dyes out there, but stick to brands like TDK, nothing like Memorex.

I found some great ones online, but they didn't have the protective layer on top so I had to stamp them with a CD-labeler.
sometimes they don't play in some audio-cd players with the matt labels, so either buy TDKs (which have the protective layer built in) or use the slick and thin labels.

[BinyaminGavriel]

is there anything I can do to save this CD or play it, since it is showing that 700MB is used?

[sh03z]

most likely not