Good to know. I'll stay away from the Sony colored ones. I've always used the Sony aluminum backed CDR's in the yellow/black 50 count case. Can't find those locally so I've switched to Philips 52x speed case of 50 aluminum colored for around $12 at Big Lots. So far no problems with 25 I've burned.
I think this thread shows that for the most part it makes little difference. Even some people who tried the much lauded TY discs have had issues. It likely depends on your equipment and the particular batch of CD-Rs that you get, and this is probably why there are so many varied experiences. Personally I have tried many brands. Maxell, Verbatim, Memorex, Philips, Mofi, etc. No issues with any of them. Lately I have purchased the white inkjet printable Philips CD-Rs because they look good and, no surprise, they work fine (zero failures so far).
I had bad luck with Verbatim on the older CD players, and not with TY discs, they just end up being binned or put on my most modern players - CD5000 marantz and Philps, which they play perfectly
Full disclosure as an update to my previous response with the Philips 52x speed CD-R's is they're now taking too long to burn music files on so they play in a CD player. The fix was to reduce burn speed to 32x instead of maximum on my 2010 MacMini. They play fine in all three of my CD players.
Was using VERBATIM for ages... now I'm using KODAK Gold Preservation CD-R's. 24 KARAT GOLD Reflective Layer - Up to 300 years Archival. They work well... although there may be no CD Players around in 300 years to play them!
Is anyone still buying CDRs here? I’ve had some issues burning Verbatim, which seem very thin. Memorex and Maxwells seem to have about the same coaster rate. I wish Japan Fuji’s were still around, as those were my favorites. Even the Fuji Taiwan versions worked great. I know CMC Pro took over for Taiyo Yuden, but are they worth the extra cost?
I have the 100 count Verbatim CD-R's made in Taiwan I bought at Walmart. I've burned at least ten CDR playlists at 24X on my recently purchased external USB Apple Super Drive plugged into my 2010 MacMini and all of the burned CD'Rs play flawlessly on all my home listening devices. The external USB Super Drive is what stopped the constant coasters I was burning from my MacMini internal SuperDrive using any brand of CDR. So you might want to check if it's a problem with your CD burner or maybe choose a slower burn speed. Hope this helps.
I still have several hundred Japanese made TYs, plus several hundred Verbatims/Sonys/Maxells, I think that's more than enough to see me out as never record at 16/44 and rarely burn CD-Rs, my newish PC not having a drive doesn't help, must sort out an external one soon.
I think the CMC Pro discs are really good. No issues with 200+ CD-Rs and 500+ DVD-Rs. In the long run we will see if the extra money spent pays off. AKA will the CMC discs outlive cheaper discs/be playable in the future. I doubt there will be much difference but its cheap insurance to me.
