No-Name Cd-Rs vs. Good Brand Cd-Rs

[Bono]

Hey, it's been a while since I've been to this forum. Anyway, as simple as the subject line says, I was wondering if there is a real difference from noname cds to a good brand like... smartbuy, if those are a goodbrand anyway.

For example, I can get a 25cd spindle of smart buy cds, for 14.99 CDN, or maybe sonys even, OR I can get 50 no name cds for only five dollars more. The no-name cds are made in Taiwan if that means anything, thats what the guy on the phone said. For you Toronto residents, I'm talking about the factorydirect outlet on Kennedy and Brimley or Birchmount... yeah, anyway. Any help would be appreciated

Thanks

[Captain Hook]

In general I don't think SmartBuys are very good and I consider them one of the cheap brands. I've gone through 2-50 spindles of smartbuys, both were 16x, and got mixed results. I found they could burned faster, like at 24x or sometimes higher, but had problems at 48x and found the cd's scratched pretty easily.

I too wonder how much of a difference the brand and type makes.

[iLuminatae]

I stick with maxell or tdk, they have always been goood to me and if i watch the sales i can pick them up just as cheap as no name brands. As for performance ie coasters - i have no idea if the no names are any worse than the brand names or vice versa.

[Bono]

Thanks guys. Hook, I didn't really know if Smart Buys were good cds. The only is, not lately but there was a time about 1 year ago 'till about Christmas where I saw a lot of Smart Buy cd users. So I assumed that they were good since I see a lot of people using them.

iLuminatae, thanks for the advice. Today anyway, I purchased a 50-spindle no-name. It went for $20 CDN and I got a free CD-Labler with it. So I'm just trying them out. So far, 8 CDs, no coasters. They do feel cheap, they're not as flexible, they're not sealed well; I can see on the sides. But who knows, the labeling surface is blank so maybe they saved cost on making a face. I'm hoping as long as I keep them out of the sun and keep 'em cool, they should be fine. If they start acting up or whatever, I'll probably stick to Maxells......... TDKs are hard to find up here.

[Captain Hook]

Now that I think about it, I found no real difference when I switched from those SmartBuys to Maxells. I don't think the brand of cd makes much of a difference. My cousin uses the cheapest ones he can find, like yours with no labels on the fronts, and I think he doesn't really have any problems with them.

[JustW]

Really depends on what you are using them for. I burn alot of SVCD's, and find that the higher quality media does make a difference. I only buy high quality media now simply because cheaper CD-R's tend to skip and be corrupted more often than not (atleast for SVCD material).

AFAIK there are only about a dozen real CD MANUFACTURERS, and all other companies (i.e Sony, TDK, Memorex) buy the media and re-brand them. Like both TDK and Memorex use CMC Magnetics manufactured CD's. And in my book CMC is one of the worst manufacturers. I only buy Taiyo Yuden Manufactured media now, as it's easily one of the top 3 CD Media manufacturers when it comes to quality.

So yes, there is a difference in cheap media and quality media. Whether or not you should buy high quality media all really depends on what you want to use the media for. Personally I wont use the cheap stuff for anything, simply because I prefer that the material I burn lasts longer.

[Captain Hook]

Whitman how do you what brands use Taiyo Yuden? Does it say it on the package somewhere or something?

[JustW]

Originally posted by Captain Hook
Whitman how do you what brands use Taiyo Yuden? Does it say it on the package somewhere or something?

All Taiyo Yuden Manufactured media will say "Made in Japan" on it somewhere, and AFAIK they are the only ones with that on the cake-box. Plus their cake-boxes usually have a "screw on cap" on the top of the lid (although I recently bought a box with-out this look). You can always use a small app to identify the media such as "CDR-ATIP Reader" (would require you to buy the media first of course).

I almost always buy FujiFilm brand though, and they use Taiyo Yuden Media. BestBuy.com just had a box of 100 on sale for $24.99 with a $15 Mail in Rabate (so I stocked up on those suckers :D) --edit-- In fact they are on sale again for $24.99, but without the $15 mail in reabte.

Example of what Taiyo Yuden cake-boxes look like:
http://images.bestbuy.com/BestBuy_US/images/products/4313/4313647_sa.jpg

[Captain Hook]

Oops, I realized I'm using Memorex cds, not Maxells. I am not very happy with these at all and won't buy any more Memorex. I think the next ones I get will either be those SmartBuys (they're damn cheap) or Maxell.

[RangerBFK]

I have used TDK rebranded media since near the begining of CD Burning (for consumers anyway) and i have had 0 issues with them, where as almost every other manuf i have used has had issues with disk finishing burns (with or without errors like buff under-run) or general media life-span issues (such as the reflective coating starting to flake even with no use)

I will have to give these Taiyo Yuden cd's a shot, but TDK has always worked for me ;)

[unclescrooge]

i've always used princo cdrs and cdrws.

well not always..back in the early burning days i used whatever was on sale or cheap.

[MrBling]

If you can find them, go for Disc Power spindles. They are pretty cheap and I have yet to burn a coaster with them.

[Ol' Mucky Terrahawk]

I have burned hundreds of Memorex CDs and have never had a single problem with them. Ever. This last weekend CompUSA had a deal to buy 90 CDs for $10 - that's hard to beat . . .

[hey69]

have a peep at cdreaks.com they will tell you the good, the bad and the ugly of cd media (and even dvdr media 2 :D

[Nasty]

Originally posted by JustWhitman
AFAIK there are only about a dozen real CD MANUFACTURERS, and all other companies (i.e Sony, TDK, Memorex) buy the media and re-brand them. Like both TDK and Memorex use CMC Magnetics manufactured CD's. And in my book CMC is one of the worst manufacturers. I only buy Taiyo Yuden Manufactured media now, as it's easily one of the top 3 CD Media manufacturers when it comes to quality.

The 100-pack of TDK 48X CD-R's that I've recently purchased were made by Ritek, not CMC Magnetics. On the other hand, the Imation CD-R's that my brother had been using were indeed CMC Magnetics media. Neither of those two CD-R manufacturers (CMC, Ritek) are considered to be "good", according to the pros.

Thus, I will use my TDKs for practice burns - and I will buy a Taiyo Yuden-manufactured brand for the more serious stuff.

[Stryker5]

Originally posted by Ol' Mucky Terrahawk
I have burned hundreds of Memorex CDs and have never had a single problem with them. Ever. This last weekend CompUSA had a deal to buy 90 CDs for $10 - that's hard to beat . . .

I guess you and I are the few that have yet to have problems with memorex. They've been burning flawlessly for me for the past 3 years.

[Royal Oaks]

Originally posted by JustWhitman

http://images.bestbuy.com/BestBuy_US/images/products/4313/4313647_sa.jpg

Ahhhhhhhhh, that's the good stuff :D:D Man I love using Fuji CD-R's. I really haven't ever noticed a difference (between garbage no name stuff and the good stuff), but I just really prefer Fuji CD-R's (just Fuji products in general). I would just say look for the best deal. :cool:

[Nasty]

At the stores that I've been to very recently, I've seen that almost all brands of 48x-rated CD-R's say "Made in Taiwan" on their packages. And of those, all but one brand use media made by one of the two worst manufacturers: I've seen Maxell 48x CD-R's made by Ritek, Memorex and Imation 48x CD-R's made by CMC Magnetics, and Philips and TDK 48x CD-R's made by both CMC Magnetics and Ritek. The one brand that is "made in Taiwan" but doesn't appear to use either of those two manufacturers is Sony (but I don't know which company makes their 48x CD-R's without buying a package and running the ATIP info on them).

The only brand that I've found recently to use Taiyo Yuden-manufactured CD-R's is Fuji. But not all Fuji 48x CD-R's are made by Taiyo Yuden in Japan; in fact, I've run across Fuji color CD-R's made by Ritek in Taiwan. Their plain and spiral-style CD-R's are "made in Japan" - but only the plain Fuji's, sold only in spindles, are the "good" Fuji's.