Best CD-R Media?

Posted:
in General Discussion edited January 2014
What brand is best for copying music CDs? Who has the cheapest online prices? Those little envelopes too.
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Comments

  • Reply 1 of 27
    applenutapplenut Posts: 5,768member
    I bought a 10 pack of memorex music CD-Rs. All of em have sever problems playing in my car disc changer. I don't know what it is. they either never play or they do play but stutter and skip constantly. I noticed that the discs are pretty much transparent when looked at from behind into light. is that normal?



    any reccomendations would be appreciated.
  • Reply 2 of 27
    emaneman Posts: 7,204member
    I've never had any problems with Sony, TDK, and Fuji.
  • Reply 3 of 27
    ghost_user_nameghost_user_name Posts: 22,667member
    That's odd, applenut, because I've had the very opposite experience. Memorex CD's have been extraordinarily reliable for me. I also use Imation discs regularly with no problems.



    And, yes, it is normal for the CD-R's to be semitransparent if you hold them to a light.



    glurx: Envelopes? Do you mean CD jewels?
  • Reply 4 of 27
    eugeneeugene Posts: 8,254member
    What's most important to me besides readability is the quality of the printed or non-burning side. I liked the thick white silkscreened TDKs for example.
  • Reply 5 of 27
    applenutapplenut Posts: 5,768member
    [quote]Originally posted by starfleetX:

    <strong>That's odd, applenut, because I've had the very opposite experience. Memorex CD's have been extraordinarily reliable for me. I also use Imation discs regularly with no problems.



    And, yes, it is normal for the CD-R's to be semitransparent if you hold them to a light.



    glurx: Envelopes? Do you mean CD jewels?</strong><hr></blockquote>





    maybe I got a bad pack that was exposed to extreme conditions or something.

    <img src="confused.gif" border="0">
  • Reply 6 of 27
    glurxglurx Posts: 1,031member
    [quote]Originally posted by starfleetX:

    <strong>glurx: Envelopes? Do you mean CD jewels?</strong><hr></blockquote>



    Square white paper CD sized envelopes. I think they may have a transparent window on the front so you can see the title etc.
  • Reply 7 of 27
    buonrottobuonrotto Posts: 6,368member
    I've also had horrible experiences with Memorex CD-Rs. I once made 3 coasters in a row with them, and have made several more from different packages as well (glad I didn't buy big spindles at the time). They would either just hang about halfway into the burn, or get to the verification phase and poop out. I'd say six total coasters -- the only coasters I've ever made.



    I love the TDK ones Eugene mentioned.



    I always buy jewel cases too. I think (I may be imagining things here) the envelopes tend to scratch the discs. I've come to this conclusion thanks to my already crappy car CD player. They just seem to skip more often if I'm storing them in paper.



    [ 05-14-2002: Message edited by: BuonRotto ]</p>
  • Reply 8 of 27
    Memorexes (memorexi?) and tdk's refuse to play on my car stereo. The generic brand "Pengo" work like a dream. Go figure. <img src="confused.gif" border="0">
  • Reply 9 of 27
    glurxglurx Posts: 1,031member
    starfleetX: <a href="http://www.pagecomputers.com/cgi-bin/page/S0496703.html"; target="_blank">These people are selling envelopes</a>. I'm looking for this type of product at the cheapest price I can find. Jewel cases are bulky and fragile.
  • Reply 10 of 27
    wrong robotwrong robot Posts: 3,907member
    [quote]Originally posted by Shanny:

    <strong>Memorexes (memorexi?) and tdk's refuse to play on my car stereo. The generic brand "Pengo" work like a dream. Go figure. :confused: </strong><hr></blockquote>



    I believe it would just be Memorex no plural change
  • Reply 11 of 27
    ghost_user_nameghost_user_name Posts: 22,667member
    Hmmm.



    Well, I buy my CD-R's in spindles of at least 50 because I go though them very quickly for backing up lots of data. I've got five spindles here of 50 each, all of them almost empty. Two of them are Memorex, two Maxell, and one Imation. I have not had a single "bad" disc out of the last several hundred discs. Audio discs burn and play fine in my Macs, car stereo, and Aiwa home system.



    glurx: Thanks for the info on the envelopes -- I didn't know where you could get those.



    [ 05-14-2002: Message edited by: starfleetX ]</p>
  • Reply 12 of 27
    emaneman Posts: 7,204member
    [quote]Originally posted by Shanny:

    <strong>Memorexes (memorexi?) and tdk's refuse to play on my car stereo. The generic brand "Pengo" work like a dream. Go figure. :confused: </strong><hr></blockquote>



    I got a 50-pack of Pengos for free and those also worked great.
  • Reply 13 of 27
    burningwheelburningwheel Posts: 1,827member
    [quote]Originally posted by glurx:

    <strong>



    Square white paper CD sized envelopes. I think they may have a transparent window on the front so you can see the title etc.</strong><hr></blockquote>



    i think i've seen those at staples



    i use mitsui or taiyo yuden. imation suck, nothin but trouble. i've had good luck with sony and maxell too
  • Reply 14 of 27
    murbotmurbot Posts: 5,262member
    I've had really good luck with Memorex CDs (white ones), and Maxell. Good for data and audio.



    I recently bought a spindle of cheap GIGASTORAGE CDs, and they seem ok for data (but who knows - they could be unreadable in a year). But for audio - they SUCK! Just brutal.



    I've learned my lesson. Saving $10 on a 50 pack isn't worth the headache.
  • Reply 15 of 27
    buonrottobuonrotto Posts: 6,368member
    Seems like at this rate, we will slowly eliminate the viability of any brand of CD-R. Curious.
  • Reply 16 of 27
    eugeneeugene Posts: 8,254member
    I've always been hesitant to go with Memorex, Maxell and Sony CD-Rs. I've heard stories that they just won't work in certain drives. Sonys are overpriced and don't offer anything more in quality, from experience.



    If I'm going to bur a music CD or something I want to keep for a long time, I use Yamaha "professional grade" CD-Rs. They have an even better finish than the TDks I mentioned before.



    I've been using Verbatim 700 MB CD-Rs for most things recently. They seem pretty good too.



    The DVD-R market is even weirder. You can find generic 1x media for $1.50...the finish isn't great but if you burn a lot of DVDs for friends or botleg a lot of stuff, I can see why a $1.50 DVD-R is better than a 2x $5-8 DVD-R. It's weird...Apple's DVD-Rs are nearly the cheapest 2x discs anywhere. The only cheaper discs I could find were Memorex. The most expensive DVD-Rs I've purchased have been Sony's, and they aren't particularly good. Again, TDK makes nice DVD-Rs too.
  • Reply 17 of 27
    dogcowdogcow Posts: 713member
    I use Memorex for most stuff, never a problem. I also use gerneric cds from <a href="http://www.cdrecordable.com/"; target="_blank">http://www.cdrecordable.com/</a>; they are great and have also never been a problem (i think they also sell those little white envelopes). I also use Sony's CD-RWs for temp. storage of stuff. I have only had bad luck with Imation CD-Rs.



    Really there is no right answer to this. Just buy a single or 5 pack of a few companies and see what works best in your burner and in whatever you are going to be using this stuff in. Then when you find something you like, stick with it.



    [ 05-15-2002: Message edited by: Dogcow ]</p>
  • Reply 18 of 27
    glurxglurx Posts: 1,031member
    Someone gave me a few Imation discs. They seem to work well so far. One of my concerns is longevity - I don't want to burn a bunch of discs only to ave them stop working 9-12 months down the road - I'm looking for media that lasts awhile.
  • Reply 19 of 27
    spotbugspotbug Posts: 361member
    I burn (and have burned) a lot of CD-R's. I buy my spindles from rima.com. They're inexpensive and I've never had a customer service problem with them. They are fast and curteous.



    For brands, I prefer either Pengo (as other's mentioned) or Prodisc. Rima's available brands fluctuate, but they always have one of those two brands for sale. I can't remember the last time I burned a coaster (that's at least hundreds of CD-Rs burned without a coaster).



    Stay away from "True Silver" CD-Rs. I made the mistake of buying a spindle of those once (I thought the real silver color would look more professional). Almost every one of those comes out a coaster. I keep them for testing strange burning situations like hybrid disc images etc. - any time I don't want to waste a a "real" CD-R.
  • Reply 20 of 27
    jutusjutus Posts: 272member
    If you want high quality CD-R's, there is nothing like Kodaks.



    kodak.com usually has specials.



    I don't think Kodak sells any CD-R's that don't have gold content in them.



    I usually buy 5-6 boxes of Kodaks for stuff I want to keep 25+ years with no quality loss. i buy a huge cheapo spindle of noname for stuff I throw away every 2 years.
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