What causes common scratches on dvd's and cd's?  I don't mistreat my media but can't figure out why they are getting scratched.  Ideas?

Small scratches shouldn't interfere with playback...It could be that you are getting sand or some other debris inside the flip folder...How do you store it ? Check  out  the insides of the folder with a flashlight and magnifying glass and then clean it...Take all the CD's out and wipe the insides with a  damp microfiber cloth, also try canned air for the cracks and corners you cannot get to...Disks can be polished and cleaned to work better...You can use product that is used to polish out headlight lens on automobiles, or product that's for both lenses and auto paint... but be prudent and careful. Watch videos on the process..Test your skills on a CD that can be replaced or one that is not that desirable. Once you have the process down and your skills have improved you can move on to more desirable disks...

If your CD or DVD is scratched, you may be able to fix it! ... You might know that a small laser reads data from the CD (which is why we ... Scratches on optical media generally come in two broad types: ... They're bad, but not the worst. ... causing bigger jumps or even resulting in the disc being unreadable.

Maybe you need a new player.

there made of a soft material thats all , there harder wearing that vinyl and tapes .even a stell surface wears and the hardest concrete .

You treated them like garbage and now you're paying the price! 

What's the mystery?

The whole disc surface is in contact with the pocket in a flip folder.

The slightest bits of dust can get dragged across the surfaces every time you take them out or put them away.

Keep them in proper disc cases instead, where nothing ever touches the data areas.

"Game" shops often have disc polishing machines; you can get CDs or DVDs re-surfaced for a small charge.

(If you try to polish discs yourself, only ever polish radially - towards and away from the centre. Never go "around" the disc as that can leave marks that follow the data tracks and stop them being read. Fine radial marks have minimal impact).

Someone may be sabotaging your CD and DVDs by scratching them. Either that or the discs are scratched inside the players accidentally. Slight scratches can be removed by scratch removers avaialable for sale in places like Amazon for a few bucks.