What are some Good Quality CD-R Brands

I tend to burn a lot of CDS for my car sometiems as a regular cd sometimes as mp3 data cause my car plays those as well

problem is most of the time after 3-6 months the cds start skipping (some brands)

can anyone recommended some long lasting CDs..for either CD-R or mp3 data

Im assumign Brand makes a difference?

you should visit cdfreaks to get more detailed information. i'll just give you the basics. just note that i don't burn cd's anymore so my knowledge may be outdated

brands "sort of" make a difference. i say sort of kuz some brands have reputable companies make the disks for them. if you want the absolute best go for MADE IN JAPAN. unfortunately companies outsource to maximize profits so it would be hard to find MIJ media unless you shop online. made in japan consists of taiyo yuden and probably maxell...... i'm not sure if theystill makes cds.

the second best would be made in taiwan. cmc magnetics or ritek is decent.

beware of made in china....

so regarding brands i think HP uses cmc magnetics and that's decent. check for old fuji's as they would be made in japan and at that time used taiyo yuden. the recent batches are not made in japan anymore.

you also need a good quality burner with the recent firmware/hacked firmware installed. also, unlike dvds cds tend to have higher quality burns at low speeds.

I use Verbatim discs. They last ages. I tend to have a problem with Maxell Discs. The data peels of from the top in like a week. Anyways, I hope i helped

Verbatim and Taiyo Yuden are great "brands" (technically the same maker). CDfreaks has great info on brands and the actual manufacturers. Yes, it does make a difference. You can get utilities that will read the actuall manufacturer codes as well. Some burning software can do this as well.

I had a great list from a while back as to the best and worst manufacturers and what brands they release under. I'll post it if I can find it.

I only use Taiyo Yuden discs.

mako

Verbatim and Tuffdisk

we use Tuffdisk all the time,they seem a little thicker that standard dvd disk



im sure they do CDs too

CD-R's are not archival, as you understand. My advice is to keep an image of each CD on hard drive and then burn new ones as the old ones fail. You might have better luck with one brand over another, but no brand of CD-R is going to be as archival as a commercially burned CD.

fmw said:

CD-R's are not archival, as you understand. My advice is to keep an image of each CD on hard drive and then burn new ones as the old ones fail. You might have better luck with one brand over another, but no brand of CD-R is going to be as archival as a commercially burned CD.

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Very true if you are comparing a stamped aluminum "commercial" disc to a chemical dye based consumer or professionally burned disk. The stamped disc will typically outlast the burned disc, however, the research into the longevity of both is still ongoing. Some scientist claim just 5-10 years while others claim 100 years shelf life under proper storage conditions.

There is no real difference - except in what you pay for in service - between a consumer burned disc or a professionally burned disc. The methods used in producing such a product are identical.

All CD-Rs store information as 1s and 0s. A bit is a bit, so CD-R brand does not matter. I have CD-R music discs from the 90s that still play as good as new; all of them different brands. Take care of your discs is my best advice.

Chris_G said:

All CD-Rs store information as 1s and 0s. A bit is a bit, so CD-R brand does not matter. I have CD-R music discs from the 90s that still play as good as new; all of them different brands. Take care of your discs is my best advice.

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True.... but not quite, the quality of the dyes used in the discs make alot of difference, ill have to agree on verbatim discs, but i also use HP(lightscribe) and memorex discs, all of which have worked fine for me

Chris_G said:

All CD-Rs store information as 1s and 0s. A bit is a bit, so CD-R brand does not matter. I have CD-R music discs from the 90s that still play as good as new; all of them different brands. Take care of your discs is my best advice.

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Taking good care of your disks is sound advice. But, like bomberboysk said, the type of dyes used in the CD-R will make a difference.

The old rule of thumb was: Green CD-Rs are the cheapest and have the worst durability. Blue/Gold is the more expensive, longer lasting type. All CD-R media use either gold or silver as the reflective coating one of three dye polymer types as the actual recording medium. Stamped, commercially manufactured CDs use Aluminum and have no dye. This still pretty much applies today.

Cyanine is the cheapest, least durable form of dye used. This is a light blue dye that will show up as a light green color with a gold reflective layer or light blue/green with a silver reflective layer. This is the original "Orange Book" (recordable CD media) spec'd dye that used to have a shelf life of about 10-20 years and through recent formula changes (metal stabilized) has a claimed lifespan of roughly 20-50 years. Over time this dye will tend to be affected by ambient light (particularly UV) more than others. It also offers the lowest reflectivity contrast that can lead to read errors.

Phthalocyanine is a nearly transparent dye that is more stable than the standard Cyanine dye. This is most commonly used with a gold reflective layer producing a gold colored appearance. This combination offers the best reflectivity quotient and longer data retention due to chemical stability. Phthalocyanine based disks claim a data retention shelf life (under ideal conditions) of about 100 years.

The more recently developed AZO or Metalized AZO dye was developed several years ago by Mitsubishi. Most Verbatim disks today use this formula. The AZO dye is a dark blue dye typically used with a silver reflective layer. This results in a dark blue recording surface. Manufacturers claim this formula to be on par with Phthalocyanine "gold" disks for data retention and longevity.

Since recording media hasn't been around for more than a couple decades yet, the claims for either media type cannot be truly verified. Different brands DO use different types of dyes/substrates as I mentioned above. It DOES make a difference. I hope this has cleared up a few items. Let me know if you have any further questions.

Memorex has been the best for me. Currently, I'm using some cheap off-brand that I picked up at Office Depot or something. They do the trick, but it's better to just pay the extra couple bucks and get something nice.

TDK, Memorex, or Sony are quality, and Verbatim is among the best.

Chris_G said:

All CD-Rs store information as 1s and 0s. A bit is a bit, so CD-R brand does not matter. I have CD-R music discs from the 90s that still play as good as new; all of them different brands. Take care of your discs is my best advice.

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back in the 90's most of them were still made in japan. do you still have the country of origin label?

Gold CDRs are the best!