Could any IORR audiophiles out there recommend the best kind of blank CD to buy? I need to start backing up my hard drive (not to mention freeing up some space) but don't want to get the kind of blanks that will start to rot in a year or so.

Any info would be appreciated!

Thanks,

John

as far as I know - the rot thing is b.s. i have cdrs manufactured by literally dozens of makers and I have many 1000's of discs - never had a problem with one.

maybe you should have a closer inspection of your oldest discs, T&A.
some cheapo CD-Rs, you can actually see-thru'.

the printable CD-r's have a thick coating, thats a good way to, imo.

No, it definitely exists - it looks almost like water spots, but it's actually under the bottom layer of plastic.

Now what MAY be an urban legend is that supposedly there are certain CD-Rs out there that are immune to this tragic and unsparing disease.

That's what I'm trying to figure out.

I use many different kinds, but Verbatim Super Azo are said to be specially good. They are blueish and are printable.

Why not use DVD-Rs instead? More space.

If you want the best: [store.mam-a-store.com]

-Drake

ummm, these are quite expensive, and only 74 min. Some cd's won't fit. Concerning sound quality these are probably the best. You also need a great burner...

i'll just consider myself lucky - all i know is all my discs play just fine, assuming the were burned properly in the first place.

Old blue dye discs tend to crap out,
I've lost a few audio goodies that way..............

If the production name is the same as those who sell
cheap car spare parts = not good.
TDK is another real crap disc.

The trick is not what label, but WHERE is the CD made. Look for CD's Made in Japan as opposed to Korea.

Fuji and Tai Yuden are suppose to be the best. Fuji has been getting a little sneaky, theur 50 packs are made in Japan, but their 100 packs are made in Korea.

Rule of thumb, if it's made in Japan, you're good to go.

I use Fuji - the company I work for is a major European distributor of Fuji video and data storage so I buy directly from them (which I think is about half the normal price I'd pay at the store). The blank DVDs are noticeably cheaper as well.

The Mobile Fidelity 24Karat Gold Ultradisc's are mighty fine....

Can buy direct from Mobile or leading top end Hi-Fi shops....

[www.mofi.com]





ROCKMAN

Drake & Rockman are both right.Gold cdr's are the best & those are two of the best companies to get them from.There is a debate concerning any improvement in sound quality but,it is widely accepted by researchers that gold cdr's & dvd-r's will,by far,last the longest.150 years is the low estimate.These are the discs that major corporations,hospitals,and governments use to archive important data.The 74 minute discs are more reliable than most 80 minute discs in general although E-Film ( [www.delkin.com] ) has just introduced 80 minute/700 MB gold cdr's.They also now offer gold discs with a Scratch Armour scratch protection layer as well as their standard gold discs.There are more & more companies,including Kodak & Quantegy,starting to sell gold discs.They all should last at least 150 years.
As far as non-gold discs go,the ones made in Japan are the best.The problems with these non-gold discs usually don't arise immediately.It's just that they could very well become unreadable after 15-25 years,maybe even less,a little more if you're fortunate.
Personally,I go with gold discs because,that's one less thing I have to worry about with my cdr collection.I don't have to keep track of which discs I need to re-copy every ten or fifteen years.
Here's a link to another recent discussion on this topic : [iorr.org]

You can trust Mr. Rockman on this matter;
I've got some four cd's from him straight from the oven
and that dude knows cd's. Jah mon!

Bingo thank you for the prod.country trick.
Thommie not all of us do actually have dvd-burners.

Thanks Mr Baboon....

But Hey!! dont trust me for I'd lead up a dead end track
and steal the booze from right outta ya liver...!!!

But seriously though my theory is if ya gonna hear it...
Then ya might as well hear it in the best possible way



ROCKMAN

Well, ol' son, dont trust ya more than I'd trust a rattle snake
out in the desert... Or a 'sleepy' crocie in the swamp for that matter...
But I trust yer judgement when it somes to pick what cd's
will be carryin' the dead bones mark... Play them all the time!

UG!!!... You very wise man Baboon



ROCKMAN

I've had very good luck with the Mistui/MAM discs, although I've heard good things about Taiyo Yuden as well.

But if used for purely back-up purposes, the DVDr route is the way to go as opposed to CDr, holds like 10 times more data.

I second T&A: dozens of different cd's, never any problem with any of them.

That may be true but,cdr's became available to the public only around ten years ago.Most of your cdr's are probably less than ten years old.The biggest problem with
the non-gold discs is their longevity after ten,fifteen,25 years or however long they may or may not last.
Taiyo Yuden discs are the discs from Japan.Fuji cdrs made in Japan as well as Maxell's Pro series are actually manufactured by Taiyo Yuden.Like I said in my earlier post,these Japanese discs are great (low error rate etc.) as far as non-gold discs go but,their life span is undoubtedly inferior to the gold discs.It's pretty much a black & white issue of the chemistry of different discs.
If you're looking for gold discs,beware that many retailers advertise Maxell discs,which have a gold colored top layer,as gold discs but,they actually are not.The recording layer is not gold.
Plextor is known for making the best burners.

I get ya T&A and Mr Edward havent many greasy kids fingers
all of over your discs, have ya?

I bought a few different cd-r boot titles a couple years back all of which were on two affiliated labels-Massive Attack and Fivedollar-and they're all screwed now.I'm assuming they went no-name,cheap-as-possible brand(can't see any name on them).Regardless,cd rot definitely exists and,yes,you can actually see it.

I also recomend Imation. They're reliable, dont flake out, and burn without errors. As a bonus they're inexpensive and easy to find in stores and online. They were onsale recently at OfficeMax so I picked up a couple hundred packs for $10 a piece. Unbeatable.

-Drake