I know, another CD-R question, but after visiting several CD-R FAQs, I remain confused. I know there’s a few CD burners here and I want to pick your brains a sec. Which blanks have you had the best success with? I plan on doing straight CD copies (as backup) as well as some MP3 discs and data backups as well.
Thanking you in advance…
IME, there’s only really one important criterion when it comes to CD-Rs. Just pick out a name brand, something you recognize, not a generic kind. The exception is Maxell. Don’t buy Maxell CD-Rs; they aren’t really much better than the generic kinds.
I’ve used Memorex, Imation, Fujifilm, etc, and never experienced a problem. I rarely burn “coasters”, and when I do, it’s always because of a preventable fuck-up.
You get what you pay for. Don’t cave when Circuit City offers $25 for a 50 pack of no-name CDRs. Stick with the name brands. Some experience with 50 packs I’ve bought in the past…
TDK - Kinda garbagey. Eight or nine bad ones in the bunch.
Maxell - Utter pieces of crap. Half the suckers were bad.
Memorex - Pretty good. I’m halfway through a 50 pack and I’ve only found one bad disc.
Sony - Superior. Not a bad one in the batch.
Wow. Not only a simulpost, but a simulpost with the same opinion.
One site I visited seemed to go totally orgasmic over Kodak Gold. Anyone try those? The site proclaims Kodak as “the leader in CD-R technology”.
I’ve been using Imation discs and am happy so far.
I find HP disks the best - but then I have a HP burner!.
We haven’t had the burner long enough to really experiment a lot with different brands of cd’s, but so far the Sony and Memorex seem to be pretty good.
I burn anywhere from 15 to upwards of 30 CD-Rs a weeks and in the past six months or so I’ve become an Imation loyalist. They are really cheap, i like the slim little half size jewel cases, and I’ve never (literally, never) had misburn because of them.
I use verbatim, and I burn quite a lot of cds. Had better luck with them than any other. Maxell sucks.
I’ve burned quite a few data CD-Rs in my day, both at work & at home, and the biggest thing I’ve noticed is to make sure that you get CD-Rs rated for the speed you’ll be burning them at.
I’ve had the most trouble with burning CD-Rs at higher speeds than they’re rated for- they really act strange afterwards.
Still, I’ve created many, many more coasters due to buffer underrun than to any media inconsistencies.
I buy the spindles of no-name or cheap name-brand CDs and burn them at the speed they’re rated for. Seems to work just fine for me. If I had to pick a name-brand, I’d probably go with Imation, Sony, or Memorex. Verbatim are ok, but the older Datalife ones had a water soluble top-coat which gunked up some felt-tip pens of mine.
I don’t know about music performance, or how they do in stereo component CD burners.