The next time you pop that irritating Radiohead CD into your player--beware. It could be under attack! CDs have a number of enemies, including improper handling. Even worse, some are manufactured with tiny air bubbles, infused within the aluminum-based 'fabric' of the recording surface (causing the aluminum to oxidize, rendering the CD unplayable). If that isn't bad enough, recently, a scientist at the Museum of Natural History in Spain has identified a new threat to CDs, imported from Belize: a CD eating fungus of the Geotrichum family. The fungus hungrily devours the discs like Louie Anderson at a Vegas buffet.

The discovery was not an isolated case. Marc Valls, a biologist at Spain's National Center for Biotechnology, told the BBC that the CD eating fungus is becoming "widespread" and says reports are coming in from around the world.

Outspoken opponent of compact discs, punk rock icon and producer Steve Albini, hates CDs because of their vulnerabilities. "The average CD lasts only 15 years. It's an inevitable process of chemical deterioration.'' He calls the aluminum oxidation CD Rot. "Vinyl will last a century or more,'' Albini says, but with CDs, "you can do everything right, and they will last only a decade or so."

So far, Portlanders have yet to realize the full impact of CD Rot, let alone the ominous fungal doom on the horizon. 31-year-old Patrick Bocharde, a supervisor at Django Records (which buys and sells new and used CDs), says he's heard of CD Rot, but was surprised to learn about the CD eating fungus. "I haven't really seen it," he admits, but says, "On occasion, when people brought stuff in. I've seen like, weird splotches. It could be mildew, the stuff that I've seen. People come in with beer spilled on their CDs too, but that's more obvious. You can wipe that off. This stuff, you can kind of wipe off too, but it looks bad. We usually don't take them like that."

"People should realize," Bocharde concedes, "a CD is not forever." Should people wear rubber gloves or condoms when handling CDs? "I don't think a condom would do any good," Bocharde tells me. "You can quote me on that. A condom offers no protection while playing a CD."