CDR = time bomb?

[dana]

To some degree, it depends on your burner. Sites like http://cdrlabs.com/ post reviews and tests of new burners (and tons of older ones) with media recommendations.

Barring that, I generally find that the more expensive, the better, sadly. I have some "buy 100 for $30" cds at home, and although they're fine for compilations of mp3s to play in the car for a few weeks, I don't trust them with my precious swing music.

I wouldn't buy anything:
- with a white matte top (they peel)
- that's "designed for DJs" - same quality, huge price increase (and I'm talking about those LP-looking ones here too)

I've been thinking of switching to those Sony or Kodak photo-archive CDs, but I'm not sure how good they'll be against scratches.

d.

[Toon Town Dave]

I read somewhere there were only a handful of OEMs making CD-R media and a lot of the big brands are just re-branded from these OEMs. Some OEMs are apparently better than others.

I found a little utility called CDRIdentifier (Windoze software). The only CD-R media it couldn't identify was a batch of crappy CD's that had a 100% coaster ratio in my CD drive. A little help from google and you can proibably find opinions on known OEMs.

[dana]

I read somewhere there were only a handful of OEMs making CD-R media and a lot of the big brands are just re-branded from these OEMs. Some OEMs are apparently better than others.

I found a little utility called CDRIdentifier (Windoze software). The only CD-R media it couldn't identify was a batch of crappy CD's that had a 100% coaster ratio in my CD drive. A little help from google and you can proibably find opinions on known OEMs.

that cdrlabs site I linked above lists compatible media by OEM and by rebranded name. Interesting, really.

d.

[dana]

Here's an article on some Dutch research stating that CDRs are virtually unreadable after only 20 months:

http://www.cdfreaks.com/news/7751