Don't know how they decay, but I know Dead.net will not be replacing any defective CDs from 8-10 years ago. They just don't keep that many extras around due to the limited edition.

Cds are digital. The digital music is encoded to the CD. Standard CDs are all 16 bit. The Dead releases since 2000 something are 20 bit HDCD.

SACD and DVD audio are 24 Bit multi Channel and both are great to listen to on the right equipment.

They just move to Eugene"

I heard that along the way somewhere

Storing them in a hot car is the fastest way to ruin them.

But some are just defective.
Happened with my Song Remains The Same Soundtrack on Blu-ray audio.
It played 2-3 times and then my player started saying that the disc was unreadable.
I eventually found info in the internets that many of those discs were defective and they offered replacements. Except they limited the return window to 6 months and I bought my disc after the return period ended. Pretty lame.

Just got back from dropping my youngest in Eugene for college. It is the weirdest town I've ever seen. You'll be driving through a neighborhood, and bam, a bar, then more houses, 3 blocks later, a restaurant, then nothing but houses again. There is I guess a "downtown" but even that doesn't make sense. And the U district has almost nothing, maybe everyone parties in the greek houses, I don't know. I will say though, I've NEVER seen so many aging hippies in my life!

Oh, and I've heard of the disc rot thing, mine seem fine, but they should make it right

How do CDs decay?

I dont know the technical part of how info gets put on "em

To prepare for the April 78 box, I wanted to listen to Dave's Picks 7 ... I have #1048 out of 13,000 ... problem is, only Disc 3 still works ... Disc 1 was fine in the beginning, then the disc became very static-y, now it doesn't play at all ... same with Disc 2 ... only Disc 3 still plays ... and I'm not the only one who has experienced disc decay with the very early Dave's Picks ... there is a thread on the Steve Hoffman music forums talking about this problem in-depth (it's called "Grateful Dead Discs Decaying and Becoming Unplayable") ... limited edition collector's items that were poorly manufactured ... there should be some way for dead.net to rectify this issue which has clearly effected many customers ... my Dave's 1 is also decaying ... it seems to be a problem with the first 2 years of Dave's Picks ... I would gladly send in my defective discs if there was any possible way to get them replaced ... anyway, just frustrating ... peace

Five of the 8 shows in this box set were in that big batch of missing Bettys they at the vault got returned to them some odd years back. Just for reference!

I forgot to mention that late December has some good shows on that 'Shakedown St.' radar frequency. Namely Fox Theatre GA 12/17/78 & Dallas TX 12/22/78. I also should've mentioned the night before NYE, 12/30 @ UCLA Pauley Pavilion show. San Diego 12/28 is another good pick for late December. Though the two late November shows back to back, Maryland & New Jersey (11/23 & 11/24) seem to be the most intriguing to me in regards to the Keith & Donna 'Shakedowns' anyways.

Yeah, the Giza show is it I believe, for the song Shakedown Street, and a damn fine version of it too! Contrary to the funky Brent style of the song, K&D's vibe for that song at Giza was way more euphoric & jazzy as it segues out onto the wind in the sandy desert night. I myself have been jonesing for some of that same era within the later Keith & Donna era. As far as Dave's Pick's go. With this here (Kathy Bates voice from 'Waterboy') "DEBELZ" Box we probably won't see a 1978 pick for awhile now. Since the last one before this was DaP#37, a damn fine show with even better extras at that! All that said I had been eyeing on some shows from late year 1978, but only the ones before the WinterLand closing show. I guess Keith was not feeling it nor playing well around this time, and Brent would soon be replacing him in April 1979. Regardless there are still some impressive set lists and good performances from late '78 including 'Shakedown' & 'From the Heart of Me' amongst other songs off the "Shakedown" album. So who knows? Maybe them shows would make for a nice 'extra' disc release. Anyways the last two shows left over from the April tour are now both probably a future Dave's release for one and the other show being extras for sure. Possibly could still see something released from that early spring, thaw tour. I not know of many releases that Dave has covered from that era I know of {DaP23 & DiP18} that already???{syntax error?} 1978 also has some summer classics still unreleased, they may get out there still. Me personally I would love to see a late November, early December 1978 release with a Keith & Donna Shakedown. The song itself has only been on two Dave's releases so far, with #39 being the first, and then #47. The latter a damn good pick still available in the store, lucky for the late comers on that one!

Thank you for the reference to David Gans version of Down to Eugene

I had the good fortune to see the songwriter Jim Page around town a frw times

"Rockin' to the rhythm of the roll"