I was searching for my collection of Homebrew Dreamcast cds tonight and eventually found them in an old leather case next to the wall behind a wardrobe. Ok, I'm not the tidiest or most organised person in the world........

I opened the case to find about thirty or so discs in, well they were in a fairly pitiful state. Around 75% of the discs had like this blue/green staining all over them which didn't bode well and, after testing them, I realised they wouldn't load :(

These discs were burned between 1999 & 2006. Is this disc rot ? And, if not, what the hell has happened ?

The 'bad' discs were unbranded so I'm thinking cheap discs=shit quality ?

BTW, if anyone's interested in what brand the 'ok' discs are, then note that they were Verbatim cd-r and Fuji cd-r Pro. Just a coincidence or have these discs got any special anti-ageing qualities ?

Whatever, if you're starting out with a homebrew collection or just burning a few retail games then it might pay to be choosy about what discs you use.