A gold compact disc is one in which gold is utilized in place of the high-purity aluminium or silver commonly used as the reflective coating on ordinary CDs and CD-Rs respectively. Gold disks are available as both CDs and CD-Rs as well, and are compatible with standard players and recorders.
The advantage of the gold reflection layer lies in its corrosion resistance. As such, gold CDs were seen as a potential solution to the incidence of CD rot on early CDs (mainly manufactured by PDO UK).[1]
In 2014, Audio Fidelity, an American publisher of audiophile CDs, announced that it was abandoning the gold format and moving to the hybrid Super Audio CD (SACD) format for future releases.[2]
In 2016, the Australian division of Sony Music began reissuing budget-priced (under $10) gold CDs issues under the "Gold Series" branding.