Keen314
There seems to be two sides to the debate on CD-R quality. Some say if you get a good burner, any media you burn should be good... Others think that some brands are better made than others, and are less prone to deteriorate over time. I am with the latter school and try to find CD-R's made by certain manufacturers.
There was a test done on several brands of media (although the test was been done over 2 years ago and may now be irrelevent) that I believe subjected the CD-R's to heat, moisture and other fairly harsh elements. A couple of brands (manufacturers) did a much better job retaining data after being subjected to the elements. I think what the test might simulate is if you copied some music CD's and kept the copies in your car. On a warm day the tempature can get quite hot, or could be subjected to alot of ultra violet light if left in direct sun.
You can check out this link to
cdmediaworld and look for CD Media on the left hand side for some info. Its been awhile since I have looked at the links or checked on the current status of some the comments about different media, but last time I checked some of it was out of date.
The thing to remember is your not looking so much for a name brand, but who the company was that manufactured the CD-R and then sold it under the brand name. Some of the manufacturers you might encounter are Taiyo Yuden, CMC Magnetics, or Ritek. Some other names that seem to becoming less common are Mitsumi, Kodak, and TDK. There is a program called CDRid that can read the ATIP of a CD-R and it will tell you the name of the manufacturer and the type of dye they used for the media.
Taiyo Yuden is considered one of the best manufacturers, and usually any spindle or pack of CD-R's that you buy that says Made in Japan on it will be Taiyo Yuden. All the current Fuji's I have seen have been TY's... Imations used to be made by Taiyo Yuden, but now are made by CMC Magnetics of of Taiwan, and some people don't consider them to be as good. TDK also used to make there own Certified Plus CD-R's, but now source it out to CMC or Ritek as well, or at least that has been my experience of the TDK's I have seen with a 16x or higher speed rating... Getting back to CD Mediaworld, the last time I checked, they were still listing Imation as a good choice, because at the time they were made by TY, but are now made by CMC, and the site had not reflected the change in manufacturer, and in my eyes the downgrade in quality.
Again, alot of people will say that they have had good experience with CMC made CD-R's, and they very well may have. I am sure the companies have made huge refinements in there manufacturing processes... but for me, some old habits die hard, and I have never had a single problem with the literally hundreds of Taiyo Yuden CD-R's I have burned, and thus they are the only CD-R I will buy.
Dave