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Buy the Best CD-R Media You Can Get |
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| A guide by Spirit in a Photo "crazed redhead" (Round Rock (Austin area), TX USA) | |
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Products sampled from this guide:
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| Fujifilm Media 25301485 CD-R Data 700MB 80 Minutes Storage Media - 50 Pack Spindle | Fujifilm 48x CD-R (30-Disc Spindle) | Maxell CDR80M Recordable CD for Audio CD Recorders |
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Are you scratching your head over which blank CD-Rs to purchase. Never fear, I'm here to tell you about my experiences with CD-Rs and give you the inside scoop, because I've used a lot of different brands of media and do a lot of CD burning (I've burned hundreds of CDs since the beginning of the year). I've also done a lot of research on technical sites to get the real information on the CD-R media. First let me explain a little about the composition of the CD-Rs themselves. As you've probably noticed when you flip over a CD-R, it's colored, as opposed to being silver or gold like the pre-recorded CDs you own. The reason for this is that home recording equipment can't handle recording directly to the metal, unlike the prerecorded CDs, so they had to develop an organic dye layer for CD-Rs. The dye layer does make quite the difference in terms of archival quality. The absolute best CD-R media you can get is Mitsui (or MAM-A, as they're now called--most know them by Mitsui), which uses Phthalocyanine dye. Mitsui CD-Rs have the longest archival life of any of the recordable media out there--rated at 100 years for the silver CD-Rs and 300 years for the gold. As you can probably guess, Mitsui are pretty expensive--they can cost over twice the amount of regular media, and Amazon doesn't stock this brand anyway. So what to do now? Taiyo Yuden Never fear, Taiyo Yuden is here to save the day! Although you can't get Mitsui here, you can get the second-best brand of CD-R media here, and they're much cheaper than Mitsui. Unless you've got a lot of money to spend on CD-Rs, or are that worried about archival life of CDs, Taiyo Yudens will do the job quite nicely. Taiyo Yuden is actually the first manufacturer of CD-Rs: they worked with Sony and Phillips to develop the standard for recordable media. The dye layer on their CD-Rs is Cyanine, which is the most common type of dye layer. Cyanine dye can exist in several different colors, the most common being the pale green you are accustomed to. These are not the pale greens, but instead a pale blue with a faint hint of green. I have yet to get a coaster using this brand of media (a 'coaster' being a CD-R that failed to burn properly, so it's only good for a coaster--get it?). If you do a search for Taiyo Yuden on Amazon, it won't turn up anything, although they do stock Taiyo Yudens--you just have to know what to look for. Taiyo Yuden manufactures CD-Rs for several other companies, two of them being Fuji and Maxell. However, I have a word of warning here--not all Fujis and Maxells are Taiyo Yuden, but there is an easy way to tell if they are or aren't Taiyos. Look for where the CD-Rs were manufactured--if it says "Made in Japan", then you've got some Taiyo Yuden, but if it's "Made in Taiwan", you've got Ritek or some other manufacturer. Here are some Fujis and Maxells that should be Taiyo Yuden (if you get something that isn't Taiyo Yuden, blame the faulty depictions on this site, not me): Fujifilm Media 25301485 CD-R Data 700MB 80 Minutes Storage Media - 50 Pack Spindle  , Fujifilm 48x CD-R (30-Disc Spindle), Maxell CDR80M Recordable CD for Audio CD Recorders, and Maxell CDR Media 700MB 80min CD-rpro (10-Pack).Other Decent Brands For some odd reason, you can't get your hands on Taiyo Yuden (late at night, you just burned your last CD left, run to the store, and they don't have Fuji and Maxell at all [or they're the "Made in Taiwan" CD-Rs]). Or maybe you've got a really onery old CD player that won't read some brands (although Taiyo Yuden and Mitsui are the most compatible brands, sometimes you find an oddball of a CD player that won't work right--go figure). Try Verbatim next. Their Azo blue dye is pretty good stuff--not quite as good as Mitsui's Phthalocyanine, or plain old Cyanine in the capable hands of Taiyo Yuden, but it's right below those two. It has a longer archival life than most of the media on the market, but it's not in the realm of Mitsui. Your options are the DataLifePlus: Verbatim 10PK CD-R 80 MIN 700MB 52X ( 94760 ) and Digital Vinyl (which has the prettiest tops of all the CD-Rs, but you can't write much on the tops, so I strongly recommend purchasing cases for these): Verbatim Digital Vinyl 700 MB Multicolor CD-R Spindle (25 Discs) and Verbatim Digital Vinyl CD-R 700MB White Inkjet Printable 50pk Spindle (94550).If you plan on leaving your CDs out in the sunlight a lot (which is a really stupid idea by the way), you should definitely try the black Memorex CD-Rs. The dye layer is a black Cyanine--it's very tough stuff. If you abuse your CDs, you should definitely try these: Memorex 700MB/80-Minute 48x CD-R Media (Black, 50-Pack Spindle) If you're still stuck, you can always try TDK. Their dye layer is pale green Cyanine (looks just like most of the other CD-Rs you've probably tried), but these are better-made than the other pale greens. If you're in a real pinch, these will do: TDK CD-R80CB50 700 MB/80-Minute 48x Data CD-R (50-Pack Spindle) Closing Remarks One point I should make very clear is that the brand of CD-R media does not affect sound quality if you're burning audio--at least not directly. As long as there are no burn errors, there won't be any difference in sound quality between brands--anyone who thinks they can hear the difference between brands of CD-R media from properly burned discs is fooling themselves. However, if you use crappy media, you run a greater risk of burn errors--so stick to the good stuff mentioned above. Another important point is burn speed. I know a lot of you out there have those really fast 48X or 52X burners and love to be able to burn an audio CD in about a minute or so. Guess what--those really high cause a lot of burn errors. I heard someone say that the fastest you want to burn is 4X, but that information might be a little old, so I'd say don't burn at anything faster than 8X or 16X. To stash your CDs, I strongly recommend standard jewel cases: Office Depot(R) CD Jewel Cases, Clear, Pack Of 12 , but if you're like me and burn hundreds of CDs and can't keep up with putting them in jewel cases with proper artwork, here's a nice CD binder to tide your CDs over until they get cases (also great for archival discs you rarely access): Nylon 280-Disc CD/DVD Wallet (if only Case Logic took a hint and made the really big ones in colors besides black).In conclusion, I hope you've come away from this learning the following: Mitsui is awesome if you can afford it, but Taiyo Yuden will do beautifully if you can't afford Mitsui. On a final note, stay away from Imation at all costs--they have the highest coaster rate of major brand media, and their archival life is quite poor--you'll thank me for steering you clear of Imation. |
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