I have two water damaged CD booklets that are 3-pane and welded together so they will not open. There is a wealth of information inside that I want to access. I will scan as is to save what I have but would like to open with minimal damage. Does anyone have information or links to a process of opening these, maybe steam.
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Even if steam would be an interesting solution:
I assume that you are not the only one on this world who has access to this booklet?
Would it not be much more easy to search for another source who own the same CD and booklet or who has already scanned and published the same information?
I don’t know that MusicBrainz users are that used to this sort of trouble. We only care about metadata, though scans are nice too.
Still, the ones that are focused on archiving every single release in existence and relevant liner notes per-release are the people at Discogs. You could try asking there too.
That’s a shame, sorry they are damaged. I feel like steam or water is probably the only thing that might help, but there’s also a chance it will further harm them.
Here’s a discussion (http://www.maintitles.net/forum/discussion/2049/help-cds-damaged-by-water/) with the following quote:
- If the inserts are stuck then resoak them in cold water, separate the pages and then dry them. I don’t think its possible to ever avoid crinkles once the inserts are wet.
- Depending on the quality of the paper and the degree of severity you might have to soak from about 20 min to 2 hrs. However, the longer you soak the paper, the softer it gets, and higher the chances of inadvertently tearing it simply by holding.
Good luck. I look forward to seeing the scans. 
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That was a nice Google/YouTube hole to fall down… @agatzk’s solution sounds good, I wonder if it might be worth trying steam first and then escalating to full immersion.
Unfortunately some of the stuff I read is that ‘clay based’ paper (glossy/coated) may not be possible to separate without professional help - but worth a shot.
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Thanks that looks what I may try. I was reading some pages at the US Library of Congress but they were all about when things were still wet and what to do. Nothing on when it already dried out.
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Let us know how it goes - I’ve had this issue myself with many items.
The worst for me is when the booklet has ended up wet, and then dried to the face of the CD!
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Thanks for the topic, I have the same issue and the answers will help me.
I will try the steam and then the water method!