Remember when they said CD’s could be frozen, covered in jam and fag ash and would still work? Half the ones i owned had terrible skipping in them after a few years
A few things here.
1) The nature of CD error correction means they are resistant to radial scratches but susceptible to ones “with the grain.” So if like most people you cleaned CDs in a circle as you would with an LP you’re far more likely to damage it. Wipe them down from centre to edge.
2) The polycarbonate is (was?) the same stuff they make bulletproof shields from, but the data layer is on the label side and quite thin.
3) Not all CDs are created of equal quality. I had a particular problem with cheap CD-Rs delaminating after a few years.
4) Cheap CD Walkmans were not kind to discs. Spinning a disc at several hundred RPM and then giving the transport a good shake is only going to end one way, and see 1).
5) The “smear it with strawberry jam” claim was a Not The Nine O’Clock News comedy sketch. The punchline was something like “in fact, there are many things you can do with a CD, whilst you’re saving up to buy a CD player.”