November 02, 2004

• I stick to Taiyo-Yuden CD-Rs. Da best.
• [Posted first comment too soon] IIRC, there are only 4-5 manufacturers of CD-Rs worldwide. All the various brands are just that.. rebranded/packaged offerings. There are apps that allow you to identify CD-R media manufacture. Anyway, the best media is from Taiyo-Yuden, but they come packaged as Fuji, unbranded and some other brands. Froogle should help you locate good deals.
• All the CD-R brand reporting/reviewing I've seen has been on Usenet: alt.comp.periphs.cdr. Of course, you only get spotty anecdotal reporting in a place like that. They say that different burners tend to favor different brands of disc, too, so that complicates things a lot. I'd also be interested in an organized CD-R list like the videohelp.com one. I've heard it said that the ATIP info retreived by programs like the one at Gyan's link is only usually correct - not 100% trustworthy. Better than nothing, though. Rumor has it that the Fuji CD-Rs marked "Made in Japan" are Taiyo-Yudens, while the ones marked "Made in Taiwan" are not. My burner seems to get along with the Japanese Fujis, so I stick with them.
• Part of the problem I'm having isn't really reliability, but more to do with labelling. I require discs to be absolute blanks, free of factory lettering and logos. Unfortunately the store packaging prevents me from looking at the disc surface. So now I'm having to look online at choices.
• Well, there's CDFreaks.com.
• Found this page last year: "There is one universal method to tell the Taiyo Yuden discs from others: as a rule, an inner rim of a disc from Taiyo Yuden has a mat surface, a serial number is positioned horizontally and is extruded on this surface. Discs from the most of other manufacturers usually have a transparent rim, and a serial number is printed around the hole." As far as unmarked CDRs, here at the office we use some "business select" discs from Imation. Completely blank surface, but they're gold, and they're from Imation. So take that as you will.
• I require discs to be absolute blanks, free of factory lettering and logos. Unfortunately the store packaging prevents me from looking at the disc surface. I've never used one, but pretty much any on-line vendor of bulk CD-Rs offers a variety of "unbranded" or "printable" media, with several types of label-side surface - lacquer, matte silver, matte white, etc.
• I swear by Mitsui (now "MAM-A") 24k gold blanks - you can buy both that brand and Taiyo Yuden in bulk here. Each look to be free of logo gobbledygoock, and are available in multiple finishes.
• I usually get either Imation or Fuji, depending on what's on sale. The only brand I specifically don't like is TDK -- I got a 50-disc spindle on sale which turned out to be mostly bad, then gave them another chance on a 100-disc spindle (also on sale) and that one was about 10% bad. I still have a few left, but I'm only using them for audio or VCD's, never for file storage. (And I should clarify, when I say "bad," I mostly mean they gave me an inordinate number of burn errors, but also some of the "good" ones didn't like to play well with one of my computers after burning.)
• They have this thread linked at CDfreaks for CDR info. When I'm in Canada I find this store very helpful and knowledgable on media. They serve both the consumer and professional communities. Kodak is very reliable, but I don't think they're available as blanks any more, since Kodak sold off their Gold disk factory and switched to a newer process. Those classic 'Kodak Golds' are still available, in blank as well, but they're at bit more expensive. I think Mitsui is now the producer. Note that I'm told by reliable sources that those are the only true gold disks still manufactured, so if you don't trust that the store knows what they're talking about, they probably aren't true 'Kodak golds'.
• Can someone explain what the difference is? Obviously somebody's manufacturing equipment and materials are better, but I honestly don't know the difference (I usually go for the Office Depot spindle).
• Well, the differnces are more or less the difference between two brands of car. They both work the same, you can get them for the same price and in the end it mostly comes down to what works best for you. If the office depot ones work, go for it. I usually go for whatever is on sale.
• No, I'd say this is not quite the same as two brands of car, unless perhaps you're talking about comparing a LandRover and a Yugo. It's very distinctly a difference of what your needs are, balanced against the time and money you wish to spend. Quick Guide to CDRs Follows... There are a limited number of CDR manufacturers, but innumerable brands, most of them no-name bulk brands, of which the exact type of CDRs in their packaging may change from shipment to shipment. Of the name brands, only two that I know of (there may be others) offer(ed) any type of guarantee as to storage life. The Mitsui/MAM-A 24k 'Kodak Golds' mentioned above, which are based on the original Kodak CDR specification and design testing, and the later Kodak Ultima silver disks which Kodak started selling after selling their original factory to Mitsui/MAM-A. Both were designed to last around 100 years. Unfortunately, I believe Kodak has now exited the CDR business entirely, leaving MAM-A and the few remaining Ultima disks still in the supply chain. MAM-A's are amongst the most expensive CDRs because of the gold, but you get what you pay for. Recent testing has proven that most CDRs won't last anywhere close to a decade, let alone a century. Really low quality disks don't conform to any manufacturing quality standards (even their own) and may corrode (literally) within a month, once you've managed to get one to write properly. Another few name brands are also considered reliable, in that they will give you very few bad disks (coasters) and those disks are expected to last a while without deteriorating. Five to ten years certainly, perhaps much longer with proper care. These brands include Taiyo Yuden and Mitsui. Note that Taiyo's and Mitsui's are often sold under other brand names, as their factories are happy to sell to bulk packagers. Everything else from any other factory/brand must be considered extremely suspect. If you buy a pack of 25 and 10 don't burn properly, don't be surprised. If another 10 are unreadable in 6 months or 6 weeks, don't be surprised. Don't expect any sort of reliability from any brand other than those named above. That said, if you've had experience with Brand X CDRs and they've performed with no problems, then they're probably good for at least a couple years. Maybe a good deal longer. Unfortunately, what's inside Brand X packaging might change by the next time you buy them. Particularly troublesome, IMHO, is the 'phthalocyanine dye' issue. This was a new CDR dye developed relatively recently and touted as a great breakthrough. Unfortunately, while some phthalocyanine CDRs have appeared to perform as promised, other brand phthalocyanine CDRs are notoriously unreliable. Further, it sometimes seems the same manufacturer (ex. Ricoh) is producing both good and sketchy phthalocyanine CDRs for different packagers. In the end, it comes down to how long the CDR has to last, and how much you're willing to bet. Want your music collection to be good for 20 years, or still able to show the digital family photos to the grandkids? Buy the 'Kodak golds'. Using a disk to take an unimportant file into the office, or so your kid can store his pirated video games that he'll forget about next week? Grab those bulk disks on sale for 10 cents each. In the warehouse store trying to choose between the Mitsui's and some brand X you've never heard of that's $5 less per 25 pack? Ask yourself whether you're willing to bet $5 that ten of the Brand X's won't turn out as coasters, or be unreadable in 6 months. If you're a gambler, save the money. If you like some reassurance, spring for the Mitsui's. Sorry if that lectured a bit, but I'm a bit of a storage nut.
• That was a very informative post. And I'm eager to focus on any nonpolitical topic toady. Thanks!
• Um, today. I didn't call you a toady, swear.