DCC Archive Your favorite CD-R & CD-RW media?

MikeP posted this link in a related thread:

CD Media World

What's your choice of blanks? Best quality, price, availability.

I'll be using a Plextor PlexWriter 161040A as soon as it arrives!

TIA! And a Happy Holiday to all! jtf

[ December 26, 2001: Message edited by: justhefax ]

 

You won't regret using Mitsui CDRs. Mitsui makes their own stuff--many other brands have nothing to do with the manufacturing end, other than ordering their name be placed on the discs. Mitsui not only makes their own stuff but has excellent quality control. As the link points out, just because your CDR plays okay after you record it does not mean it's going to play okay two years from now. So go with quality. They can be had for less than 60 cents.

I don't see the point of using CDRWs when CDRs are so inexpensive. CDRWs are not supposed to be as reliable over the long haul. Even if I were backing up some computer files daily, I wouldn't use CDRWs--I'd use cheapie CDRs. You can easily get them free after rebates at office stores. I picked up 270 free after rebate CDRs during the big sales at Thanksgiving.

 

I agree with Paul 100%. Also try Kodak. Sony is also good, but Mitsui beats them all!

Be very leery of those common brands like Fuji, memorex, Maxell, and the like. It's hit and miss with them. Fuji are the worst I have ever used and they have a failure rate of less than a year under proper storage, in my experience. I've had problems with Maxell too.

Plexwriters are the best but most burners are quality and do perfect DAE. My cheap HP (Sanyo) has lasted me three years and still works perfectly. I just ran some tests and it still jams.

 

Truth is, in the retail end of buying CDRs, even Maxell and TDK use other sub-brands to use until their "license" to use someone elses dye runs out. Sounds familiar, and silly, but it's true. Sometimes it's cheaper to use someone else's dye and stock rather than to make yer own.

So you can use Maxell one day and it works great, but then you'll buy maybe the same package 1-2 months later, and the dye, makeup and quality has changed somewhat. It may effect you, it may not.

But I'll also say Mitsui CDRs are built like rocks. If anything, I'd also reccomend you use branded (or face-frosted) CDRs. In my experience I've had many unbranded CDRs from different companies go screwy because once you label them (labels adhease to unbranded CDRs better) temprature changes and humidity changes that can be even slight royally mess with and pull on the dye on the top coat.

Branded CDRS are boring, as you just use Sharpie markers to label them, but generally, an "OK" branded CDR has been known to last longer in my camp than a well built unbranded.

Your experience may vary, but in short, the Mitsui CDR frosted are like God.

[ December 26, 2001: Message edited by: Sckott ]

 

About TDK. They USED to make ALL of their CD-Rs. I guess the market got to be too much for them so they started contracting out to Ritek in Taiwan. Ritek has a bad reputation for putting out shoddy discs. Personally I have never had a problem with ANY disc made by Ritek and they still play perfectly after years. TDK insists that they have a contractual agreement for Ritek to uphold TDK's high standards. Even BASF uses one of the dubious companies.

CMC Magnetics is another company that has a rep for putting out lousy CD-Rs. Again, I have personally never had a problem with any CMC made disc and they all still play perfectly. Imation are usually made by CMC.

Right now Mitsui, Ricoh, and Kodak are the only companies I know of that still make their own discs. Sony used to exclusively use Tayio Yuden, which not only has a sterling reputation, but invented the CD-R.

Those CD identifiyer programs don't tell you the truth, either. Some companies buy equipment from other companies and info on the type of dye used isn't even accurate!

I have been using Neato labeling products for years without any problems. I believe the potential problems with them destroying the discs are overstated, as are the fears of CD-R becoming unreliable over time.

[ December 26, 2001: Message edited by: Grant T. ]

 

I've known Ricoh to use Mitsui stock, but I'm SURE things have changed since last I used them. Boy, they have lasted AND have taken a beating and they still work very well.

Grant's very true. The branded silver-faced Sony's have been also very good. I used to not worry or care about brand, but with the different dyes and recording speeds, sometimes it matters much!

 

I use Kodak Gold CDRs, which use 24k gold as the reflective layer, compared to silver, which nearly all the other manufacturers use. Kodak claims they have a much higher lifespan than all silver CDRs. I read the same thing on an audio archiving mailing list where someone group had done their own aging tests and agreed that Kodak won hands-down.

Unfortunatly the pure gold Kodaks are getting harder to find (Kodak says they're too expensive to make, and they can't compete with the $.30 cheapies out there.

They are now pushing a gold-silver blend which they say retains much of the same charecteristics, but not the same insane lifespan (they claim the gold's are something like 200 years, but take that with a grain of salt).

The good news is that they're trying to dump their surplus at great prices ($.47 each). And I think you get free shipping if you buy over $100, but I'm not positive that promotion's still going on.

You can still get some golds in Kodak's clearance page here. They also were dumping their 100-disc spindles, but it appears that I got the last 3 (I ordered 3, then tried ordering 3 more the next day for a friend, but Kodak sent mail saying they'd just run out).

[ December 26, 2001: Message edited by: Holy Zoo ]

 

Taiyo Yuden

 

Is there a particular type/# of Mitsui to look for? Not much around here in the way of choice on anything. I did pick up a 10 pack of Maxell CD-R "Pro" (mij) a while back, only used one, but it sounds fine. Any one have any input on those, thumbs up or down?

 

Big thumbs up on the Maxell pros. They use Azio dye with "silver" but you can image on them, and the read-without-errors rate has so far been nill.... High speed or at Error-correction read-to-image, the Maxell pros have been great. They're fairly new to me, not yet have aged a year though.

*Experimented with several DTS Audio CD images copied, then re-imaged with CRC checks..no problem!

Mitsui's are best found on the web. No retail store in this small city has them that I have seen. Try the CDR Media site at the start of this post. I used to go there all the time for CDRs back in "the day".

[ December 26, 2001: Message edited by: Sckott ]

 

I used to use TDK's until they started farming out the manufacturing. Now I usually use discs from CD-Recordable.com.

They are a US company that does their own manufacuturing.

-Craig

 

Here is a fine place to buy Mitsui online. Their web page isn't the handiest, but what the heck. You have to figure out what some of the abbreviations stand for. Mostly it has to do with silver or gold, spindles or jewel cases or sleeves, quantity, that kind of thing.
http://www.tapewarehouse.com/catalog/Login.cfm

 

I've been burned by Maxell for the last time. The last batch I purchased, 3 out of the 10 discs in the pak were unusuable (looked like some kid had used them for practice with his BB gun.)
Quality control has gone straight to hell with that company.
I'll stick with the Sony's instead. Haven't had a bad one yet.

 

My understanding is that Sony's are made by Taiyo Yuden (at least, they were when I researched all this stuff a year or so ago).

You can buy Taiyo Yuden direct from www.am-dig.com:
http://www.american-digital.com/prodsite/category.asp?c=93

If memory serves correctly, Taiyo Yuden is the brand that nearly all CDR drive manufactures use to test with. They're also the company that invented the CDR (again, if memory serves correctly).

 

The silver-faced branded Sonys I'll put with the Maxell PRO's (specifically) and right next to most TDKs of higher regard. The good thing is, those Sonys are of regular standard in Sony's line, and they're easy to find in most any retail outfit. The Maxell Pro's and Mitsui's are more expensive.

 

Never had a problem with Memorex or TDK and i've used hundreds of them. But stay away from the generic, unlabeled brands that they sell at Staples, Office Depot, etc..

 

Grant,in what sense is that software inaccurate? I was just at another forum this morning where they were using "CDR Identifier" to ID a bunch of brand names. They use the data to chase down the good discs for decent prices, as well as to know exactly what they are using since it varies a lot. But now you say it's all invalid. Any further details?

 

What Grant has said is basically true about the CDI. It's a neat program, but it reveals only a general type, and it DOES lie (or just generalizes on type+code=Manufacturer, dye). The program gives you the basic code of what's on the inner-most part of the disc, but that information doesn't necessarilly have to be correct... That information is read after the disc is loaded, and lies in the memory of the writer, as it waits for you to write.

The information is useful for the writer during laser calibration, which happens right before the program material gets written to the disc.

The program is insightful, but only to a point. The disc manufacturer isn't always revealed accurately. I've had it totally miss dye-type a few times. the reason CDI can be wrong, is that many manufacturers use other people's CDR plates, which ALSO has the identical CD-ID's. You realize CDR's have stuff written on them before you burn them. They're not 'empty cups'. They even have a guide-line (almost like a median) for the laser to follow while writing.

The program is found here in zip->exe format. Harmless to play with, if you're curious.

[ December 26, 2001: Message edited by: Sckott ]

 

Thanks, if it's not accurate then might as well pass on it. Plus I already tried it, and it won't work on my OS. I went for the sure thing and ordered some Kodaks thanks to the Holy One.

[ December 26, 2001: Message edited by: pigmode ]

 

I've been using, for the most part, Verbatim Data Lifes. Reason being, that with my HP drive - they're the only brand I've ever tried thats proven, regardless of any other factors, to be 100% "coaster-proof" with my particular unit. I just hope in 20 years that there really still is some data on these discs...lol!

 

David,

I also use the Verbatim Data Life Plus CDRs with AZO Blue Technology (whatever that means?!). Seriously, I have never (knock on wood) had a single failure (more wood knocking) with any of these discs since I started using them exclusively (a couple hundred CDRs ago...knuckles getting sore from all this knocking!). They sound good and I was getting them cheap at SAM's Club here. They are a Subsidiary of Mitsubishi Chemical Corporation...besides that, I don't know much about 'em!

 

AZO is the dye. I've always spelled it wrong, sorry. FWIW, the Azo Cds have been the most reliable.

The <A HREF="http://www.cdrfaq.org/" TARGET=_blank>Andy McFadden's
CD-Recordable FAQ.</A> Everything you wanted to know about CDRs, and it's huge. Also, The huge, fat, big ol' CDR info page.

[ December 26, 2001: Message edited by: Sckott ]

 

Greetings to All, I have a question: I recently bought a Plextor 24/10/40A model. I have noticed that in the process of copying discs, the Plextor does not perform well at all at its highest speed- 24x. In fact, it is very slooow at 24x. When I set the speed down a notch to 20x- it then zips thru making discs no problem. I inquired about this to Plextor on their site's tech support section and all they have suggested to me so far is Enable DMA (already is) and try other brand discs. I have tried Fuji, Comp USA, and Sony. From reading your posts I will try Mitsui and see how that goes. Otherwise, I guess I can live with 20x performance but I did pay the $$ to get the best with 24x- not achieving it is a little disappointing. Any ideas, suggestions, advice on whats causing the slow 24x problem and how to correct it would be greatly appreciated.

 

First of all, most CDR media is not certified for 24X. Not that it woulnd't work though. (Most seem to still be 16X, 24's are coming in slowly from where I pick...)

Also, you have to have mucho bandwith power from Motherboard, processor and Ram. What's possibly happening, is the Burn Proof is making the burn lag, because your machiene may not be up to snuff, and it's constantly recovering on the burn.

However, as much as the importance of a smoothly running *FAST* PC is in order (that's two very important details), you didn't mention what you had, and that's very important to your question.

I Use a Sony CRX175A retail drive, 24X10X40. I rarely jack it up to 24X, because I might be running other programs. Using Windows XP, 1.13ghz Athelon, 256m Ram, Asus A7v133 'Motherbird'.

If you have other programs running, especially in the background, you realize there's nothing wrong with burning at 16-20X.

[ December 27, 2001: Message edited by: Sckott ]

 

I like TDK & Verbatim. Memorex just didn't sound like the original which didn't suprise me since I've had numerous bad experiences with Memorex blank casettes tapes that refuse to record.