system
Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:
human
Eli5 How exactly does burning cds work especially when you do it from home? And why does a scratch affect how the cd reads the information?
gpt
When CDs are pressed commercially, they actually punch tiny tiny holes in the gold foil, and those punches represent the information that becomes the music.

When you burn a CD at home, you can’t punch holes, but the laser in the CD burner affects the foil and burns it and discolors it, so that it looks just like a hole to the CD player.

A scratch in the plastic or in the foil destroys some of those holes, or it makes it harder for the laser to see them clearly.