What are the best CD-Rs?

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In terms of longevity, quality, and coaster ratio. Your thoughts? I like the gold Maxells but I heard that the gold will eventually chip off!! Imation? Fuji? TDK? generic?

― Varg Vikernes, Sunday, 4 May 2003 20:25 (twenty-two years ago)

Imation don't burn music well. I've had few problems with Memorex... but they're quite cheap so I doubt they're what you're looking for.

― Aaron M (Aaron M), Sunday, 4 May 2003 20:42 (twenty-two years ago)

Mitsui Gold are the best, but the Mitsui Silvers work a bit better if you're going to be leaving the discs in your car all the time. I've never seen them in any retail store, but they're not hard to find online.

― fortunate hazel (f. hazel), Sunday, 4 May 2003 20:49 (twenty-two years ago)

the colored memorex ones are the prettiest.

― keith (keithmcl), Sunday, 4 May 2003 20:52 (twenty-two years ago)

mitsui gold's seconded. and yes the only thing to do is to type in 'mitsui gold 74 CDR' into google and surf for the current best prices. hazel, why do the silver ones work better in the car? more resistant to light damage or something?

also: the 74 minute ones are more reliable than the 80 minute ones by far. it's a triumph of mindlessness that they've phased out all 74 minute CDRs from retail stores simply for that extra 6 minutes when it actually means more playback failures.

― jleideck, Sunday, 4 May 2003 22:34 (twenty-two years ago)

Mitsui Gold are the shit, definitely. I've been using them for almost ten years now. The reason why you hardly ever see them in stores anymore (at least not in Europe) is that Mitsui all but left the retail channel a year or two ago and now mainly serves the professional (archiving, duplication, audio) market under the MAM-E (Mitsui Advanced Media Europe) name. Apparently there's still a steady demand so a few online CDR stores stock them, I order mine at Feurio where Mitsui SG (the silver ones) are about €0.80, Mitsui Gold €1.50 and Mitsui Pro Studio €2.50.

― Siegbran (eofor), Sunday, 4 May 2003 22:42 (twenty-two years ago)

the cheapest ones.

why are you asking here?

― Savin All My Love 4 u (Savin 4ll my (heart) 4u), Monday, 5 May 2003 01:04 (twenty-two years ago)

why, where would you ask?

and no, cheaper is not better when it comes to CDRs. especially when you're coastering one out of every three or four.

― electric sound of jim (electricsound), Monday, 5 May 2003 01:08 (twenty-two years ago)

My take:
I've had more Mitsui CD's go bad then any other.

― Squirrel_Police (Squirrel_Police), Monday, 5 May 2003 01:16 (twenty-two years ago)

imation might be the exception to the cheaper is not better rule because best buy sells them for like 2 dollars for a spool of 50 after rebate.

― keith (keithmcl), Monday, 5 May 2003 01:40 (twenty-two years ago)

I got a spindle of 100 TDK 74 min CD-R's for $50 a couple of years ago, which I still have not used up. I haven't had one of them fail on me yet. (Although perhaps the make of the burner is a factor there as well - I have a Plextor.)

― o. nate (onate), Monday, 5 May 2003 01:43 (twenty-two years ago)

I use Verbatim (the ones with the blank upper side) from a spindle of 50 (AUS$29) and have yet to get a coaster. They won't burn above 8x but I never ever burn above 2x because I can't be fucked having CDs that don't work in every single player I have access to.

― electric sound of jim (electricsound), Monday, 5 May 2003 01:47 (twenty-two years ago)

We've gone through about 200 TDK and I think 1 failed. Gone through 100 Verbatim, none failed.

― Carey (Carey), Monday, 5 May 2003 01:48 (twenty-two years ago)

So you guys are basically telling me that all of my heartache in not being able to burn my own music CDs might end up being in the brand of CD-Rs I buy? Because I bought a 10 pack of Memorex CD-Rs about two years ago and I've only been able to make one CD out of the pack. Granted, some of those failures have been because I haven't disabled the antivirus or any other background software and because I needed to defragment my HD, but for the past two weeks now I thought that was because I needed to get a new CD burner (I have a Philips and it's good at burning data CDs, but I've had very little success in burning music CDs).

Um, what would you guys recommend I do? What brands of CD burner are the best ones to get, and what CD-Rs come highly recommended? I'm as serious as a heart attack here. Being able to burn my own CDs would be a dream come true.

― Dee the Semi-Lurker (Dee the Lurker), Monday, 5 May 2003 02:26 (twenty-two years ago)

what speed are you burning at? slower = better quality (not in theory but definitely in practice) = less likely to get buffer under-runs as well. it takes longer but big deal.

― electric sound of jim (electricsound), Monday, 5 May 2003 02:30 (twenty-two years ago)

I realize this is about failure rates but...

This reminds me of the time I went to the Guitar Center a couple of years ago and saw some guys there buying a hardware CD Burner. They asked the salesman which blanks CD-Rs sounded the best. The salesman said, "Without question, the Maxell Gold." Uh-huh.

I still feel guilty about not saying something.

― wrmdsk, Monday, 5 May 2003 02:31 (twenty-two years ago)

yeah those Maxell Gold have far less hiss and crackle than those other brands

― electric sound of jim (electricsound), Monday, 5 May 2003 02:32 (twenty-two years ago)

So you guys are basically telling me that all of my heartache in not being able to burn my own music CDs might end up being in the brand of CD-Rs I buy?

That, combined with the quality of burner, combined with the quality of software. TDK mid-priced CRDs with a cheap 40x burner running Easy CD Creator 5 Platinum has yet to give me a lick of trouble.

― Kenan Hebert (kenan), Monday, 5 May 2003 02:33 (twenty-two years ago)

What's with Maxell's reputation as a bad CDR brand? Have they improved in quality over the last year or two (ie the amount of time I've had my new computer and been burning discs)? I've used quite a few (silver Maxells) and noticed no difference in sound quality compared to Memorex or Fuji. The only time I had a problem was when I bought a spindle of 50 Maxells in multi colours and for some reason the blue ones wouldn't burn on my Mac - I took them to a Windows burner and all was fine.

― Poppy (poppy), Monday, 5 May 2003 02:39 (twenty-two years ago)

I've never had problems with Maxells myself.

― slutsky (slutsky), Monday, 5 May 2003 02:40 (twenty-two years ago)

most likely i would imagine no difference in 'sound quality' between one brand and another (excepting physical flaws which would affect more than the 'quality' of the audio)

― electric sound of jim (electricsound), Monday, 5 May 2003 02:41 (twenty-two years ago)

I had a spool of TDKs about a year ago, and now almost all the TDK discs that I burned are rotting or something! Little water-drop sized areas of the back (non-shiny) side of the discs are liquifying and rubbing away so that you can see right through the disc, leaving an incredibly powerful nasty chemical smell that hits you as soon as you open the CD wallet. They're ruined, of course.

― Dan I., Monday, 5 May 2003 02:44 (twenty-two years ago)

are you making weapons of mass destruction in your basement or something?

― keith (keithmcl), Monday, 5 May 2003 03:03 (twenty-two years ago)

hazel, why do the silver ones work better in the car? more resistant to light damage or something?

the silvers have higher reflectivity, so they play better in finicky car stereos and ancient boom boxes. in theory the gold ones should resist sunlight better, but from experience with people i make mix CDs for who leave them in the car all summer, the silvers last longer.

― fortunate hazel (f. hazel), Monday, 5 May 2003 05:44 (twenty-two years ago)

by which i mean mitsui gold and mitsui silver, don't know about other brands since early on i got sick of buying CDRs at best buy and having them crap out in weeks.

― fortunate hazel (f. hazel), Monday, 5 May 2003 05:45 (twenty-two years ago)

those new Verbatim CD-R's with the vinyl graphic on top are really nice looking. don't how they burn though. i would assume decently well. but i'll probly just buy em cos they look cool. cos that's really what it's all about, right ?

― JP Albin (John Paul Albin), Monday, 5 May 2003 06:27 (twenty-two years ago)

another vote for TDK.

― CharlieNo4 (Charlie), Monday, 5 May 2003 06:47 (twenty-two years ago)

yea we all just love those disintegrating CD-Rs. generic cd-r's work best..

― JP Albin (John Paul Albin), Monday, 5 May 2003 07:06 (twenty-two years ago)

I have some of those "vinyl" Verbatim ones. Burned 5, coastered 1 thus far. Plus they look super-snazzy.

― Hayden Nicholls (Pop the Weasel), Monday, 5 May 2003 08:49 (twenty-two years ago)

I also have some of the Verbatim vinyl CD-Rs. Kinda cool, but why the hell don't they give you any room on the label to write? I don't want to use a pen on the black vinyl.
They should use "Verbatim" as the record "label" and let you have the rest to do as you please.
A friend of mine insists that the best CD-Rs in terms of sound quality are the Mitsuis. They've worked great for me. I like the unlabeled ones myself.

― Jazzbo (jmcgaw), Monday, 5 May 2003 11:31 (twenty-two years ago)

What about longevity? I know it's still kinda too early to tell, but I would like to know that the stuff I'm burning will be around as long as my other CDs. Anyone have any CDrs at this point crap out just because they are old and, as one person put it here, "rotting?"

Also, my two cents: I use an internal burner and Nero (after using Easy CD Creator for a while) and I find that I get VERY FEW buffer underruns at 2X, BUT when coi\pying CDs, it makes no difference and in the interest of time I just burn them at 8X and rarely have trouble. Of course, if I'm actually copying a CD it usually means I don't care enough about it to drop actual money, so not too interested in the quality really, but when burning MP3s of rare shit, I care very much, and thus do whatever I can to make them last.

― roger adultery (roger adultery), Monday, 5 May 2003 12:47 (twenty-two years ago)

If you want them to outlast you and your grandchildren, get the gold ones (Kodak and Mitsui have these). Certificated to last 200 years, with lifetime warranty and all. The idea behind gold discs is that they'll last far longer than pressed CDs (which use an aluminium reflection layer = corrosion sooner or later). Of course, keeping them cool/dry/dark is a must anyway.

These are the coolest looking CDR's, by the way:
http://www.feurio.com/shop/Images/artikel/6849_p1.gif http://www.feurio.com/shop/Images/artikel/6849_p2.gif
Bizarrely, they're about to be taken off the market because apparently the idea of "CD's looking like LPs" can be patented and the guy who ordered these custom discs doesn't have the means to do that.

― Siegbran (eofor), Monday, 5 May 2003 13:06 (twenty-two years ago)

It's probably worth noting that there's more to the longevity of certain CD-Rs than the metal used in the reflective layer. Dye type matters as well. Not to mention I've seen gold colored CD-Rs at the store that didn't actually use a gold reflective layer, or ones that simply used "gold" as a synonym for "premium quality."

For the best longevity, assuming you're going to store them properly, you want gold reflective layer and phthalocyanine dye. Next best is gold/silver/etc alloy reflective layer and phthalocyanine dye. Still, at this point no CD-R is likely to have the longevity of pressed CD-R. If somebody makes that claim, be suspicious.

Kodak no longer manufacture their high-quality CD-R line. I would imagine that by now Mitsui have probably licensed their CD-Rs to other companies who rebrand them and sell them in stores, but I haven't seen any yet.

― fortunate hazel (f. hazel), Monday, 5 May 2003 17:52 (twenty-two years ago)

Sorry, I meant "pressed CD" not "pressed CD-R" up there.

― fortunate hazel (f. hazel), Monday, 5 May 2003 17:53 (twenty-two years ago)

I've used many different brands of cd's and never -repeat, never- had a problem.

I'd like to suggest to everyone that the most important things are which brand of burner, and which program you burn with. In my case, I use a Plextor Plexwriter, and "Pyro" by Cakewalk, which is outstanding! I burn at 32x, always sucessfully.

― Davlo (Davlo), Monday, 5 May 2003 18:15 (twenty-two years ago)

Well, pressed CD's might in theory last longer than CDRs because they don't have the (organic!) dye but pressed CDs have their own problems (badly readable discs if the stamper was close to the end of its life, for example) and it's still all about quality control - I've got a few Uzbekistani bootlegs (don't ask) and after only ten years two of them are already unreadable on most players. Some pressing plants do have the option of pressing CDs with golden reflective layers, which are supposed to last REALLY long and indeed longer than whatever gold CDR. I have three of those discs, they look cooler too.

Too bad that Kodak has stopped producing...I still have a small batch of them lying around I think. Some Sony-labeled discs used to be produced by Mitsui but I haven't checked in a while...

― Siegbran (eofor), Monday, 5 May 2003 19:35 (twenty-two years ago)

Re: Sound quality.

The error correction used on Audio CDs is not as fool proof as the error correction used on Data CDs (CD-ROM) which can result in the CD player having to "guess" the data and causing an innaccurate reproduction of the source material. A CD disc that is easier for your CD player to read (A higher qulaity CDR) will produce less errors and therefore produce more accurate sound. This process isn't helped by the fact that audio CDs are read on the fly with no (or little) chance to re-read the data if an error is noticed, whereas with a data CD it is possible for the CD-ROM player to re-read over and over again a problematic section until it is happy it has the correct data.

― Chewshabadoo (Chewshabadoo), Monday, 5 May 2003 23:26 (twenty-two years ago)

three weeks pass...

i bought some Hewlett Packard black-coated (ala Playstation) ones recently for audio burning and they worked fine initially but not fail time after time so i'll definitely be switching to Mitsui Gold now, with Verbatim on the side for data etc.

― stevem (blueski), Thursday, 29 May 2003 12:11 (twenty-two years ago)

not = now obviously...reading this thread more tho, it seems there is no one solution. i have a fairly new LG burner but my mistake was buying a spindle of 100 PC Line (shite PC World/Dixons brand) CD-Rs - only 5 out of about 15 have worked so far - they completely crash my PC as well so have to restart everytime. the HP ones dont crash the machine but they do stop me from being able to eject the disc from the LG drive - crazy.

― stevem (blueski), Thursday, 29 May 2003 12:53 (twenty-two years ago)

ten months pass...

I don't understand the Maxell hatred. The most reliable ones I've used, and I've been burning CDs for about five years, are those gold Maxells. No skips, no buffer underruns, and no corrosion whatseover. So far.

I will not use Memorex. If you gave mne a spool I'd give it away or throw it out. They seem, to me, to be no better than those generic cdrs from the dollar store.

My question: someone told me that WHERE the CDR is made is an important factor. Like, obviously, don't use CDRs made in Taiwan. But where are the best ones made? Japan? I'm talking regular, get-'em-at-the-mall brands, not Mitsui.

― roger adultery (roger adultery), Friday, 16 April 2004 16:26 (twenty-one years ago)

I use TDK's because I like the way the discs look with that little curved space along the edge. They also have the best graphic design. I've never had consistent trouble with any brand.

― Spencer Chow (spencermfi), Friday, 16 April 2004 17:05 (twenty-one years ago)

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