Since the initial release of the CD in 1982, artists have tampered with the system to test it, compose with it and sample from it. In this article, the author examines the use of the cracked and manipulated CD in the work of Yasunao Tone, Nicolas Collins and Oval in relation to their differing approaches and the role of the CD in sound expansion. Tone and Collins are interested in indeterminacy and the benevolent catastrophe in composition, while Oval's process has more in common with pop production and studio practices.