Does Brand Name Matter?

Saturday, Mar. 19 2005 | Author: jeremy

Wired recently published an article that took an in-depth look at the world of blank media, mainly the CD and DVD industry.

They assert that basically all of the hundreds of brands available come from one of 3 manufacturers, although some media is made to specific standards by whoever is purchasing it (sony, fuji, etc.).

Does brand-name matter to you when selecting blank media? The bottom of the barrell used to be the “off brands” like Kypermedia. Imation seems to have a bad reputation as well.

I have always had success with Memorex CD-Rs and DVD-Rs, but others have experienced less than satisfactory results.

At one time, I was heavily involved in concert trading, and many of the traders would only accept certain brands or not burn your discs at all.

Do you have a specific brand that you usually stick with or do you just pick up whatever is on sale that week?

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16 Responses for "Does Brand Name Matter?"

cameron (desk003)

March 19th, 2005 at 2:34 pm
1

I always use
CD-R
http://www.mediasupply.com/tyd80sibls-600-100.html
and
DVD-R:
http://www.mediasupply.com/ritekdvd1-4x-50.html

And I always buy from Media Supply because it seems to be the cheapest around. (sounds like an advert but it isnt, lol)
Mark

March 19th, 2005 at 4:16 pm
2

I have always had good luck with the cheap Imation CD-Rs actually. I initially started using them after a rebate deal(which offered a 50disc spindle for 3 dollars) and normally try and find them.

In the past Memorex has always been a high favorite of mine, however my most recent purchase has yielded about 50% coasters at half the speeds I normally burn at(52x.)
Mason

March 20th, 2005 at 9:22 am
3

A little common sense goes a long way, and that applies to CD-Rs.

If you purchase 100, no-brand, silver-side, CD-Rs that don’t even come in a case; then you can expect that they’ll either have _some_ problems, or, they’ll start to flake after a few months.

Personally, I always spend a little more for a known brand. It doesn’t guarantee quality, but you can always get your money back if they fail.
Norgus

March 21st, 2005 at 4:15 am
4

I had a very poor experience with a brand inappropriately names ‘datasafe’, because I couldnt retrieve a good percentage of the data on some of the burned disks…

I also tried some no brand which about 15% were coasters from the start and they only took a drop from standing height onto firm carpet to break in half.

At the moment im a happy Memmorex guy! Ive got through a good spindle or three of them and been happy with results, also more robust than cheap crap.
biz4two

March 21st, 2005 at 5:34 pm
5

I NOW usually stick with the name brands. I have had bad luck with no name CD-R’s. Of course they fail when you need that data or else all life is not worth living. I am talking about backups back in the day when CD-R’s were really popular for that.
Matt Galaviz

March 21st, 2005 at 6:04 pm
6

I stick with Fujifilm, as when I used to burn at the top speed some off brands would work about 1/3 times, which, even with CDR’s being so cheap, still is crap. I’ve never had a problem with these discs though.
KEvin

March 21st, 2005 at 11:03 pm
7

I swear by Imation
CreHx

March 28th, 2005 at 3:05 pm
8

I like Durabrand CD-R’s, I try to stick to this if possible maybe 1 out of 100 is a bad disc, but to me these are the greatest,
Jorge

May 4th, 2005 at 1:28 am
9

Without resources number good imation, same girl if without.
D. Walker

May 25th, 2005 at 12:51 pm
10

I order the blank CD-R disks for three radio stations. These are used to store a variety of audio. We also produce a program for a satellite “radio” channel. These are sent on CD-R. I have used a variety of off-the-shelf brands as well as from a bulk distributor.

Among them is the low cost Durabrand from WalMart. We have gone through several 100-count spindles with perhaps one or two bad disks. I’m not promoting Durabrand, but I’m not afraid to use them in a “pro” environment. I use them at home too.

I think handling and the burner are a factor besides quality of the disk. We burn a disk…it goes right into a jewel box or Dennon shell. Our burners are nothing fancy. Sometimes you can get a burner that is below optimization or dusty. I do specify any disks are “branded” and bear the “compact disc recordable” logo.
Saddletramp

August 2nd, 2005 at 11:53 am
11

I haven’t ever had any problems with ANY brands. Did get a few Fuji’s one time that had 4 bad disks right out of the box. E-mailed Fuji. They told me to send them in. Sent a whole new box and the amount it cost for shipping mine in to me. Only bunch of that brand I’ve ever had any problem with at that. Defraggin is the key to not making coasters. Not quite as important today as it was on older OS’s, but still helps.
mel

February 20th, 2006 at 2:52 pm
12

oh my god as if there is a forever geek website how lame!
Stewart Rodriguez

April 1st, 2006 at 4:06 pm
13

CD-Rs aren’t really that diferent, unelss you buy really cheap crap.
I’ve heard lots bad about Durabrand. I wanted to try them, but the local Wal-Mart didn’t have them. Nor did they have Sony (I might have been looking in the wrong part of the WMT, they only had imation & memorex).
I really like SONY. They seem like the best CD-Rs I’ve used.
SurfSound

July 23rd, 2006 at 10:58 pm
14

(UK resident)I usually get cheap tesco discs(green not silver but still good quality) for DVD R and CD R. They have never failed on me and I usually burn them with the 3rd party software which came with my laptop. The only time they have not worked is in a period when I was incorrectly burning data. This created about 50 coaster’s. These included some strand Discs(NOT dis[K]s, the technology was made in Europe!) That I got from maplin. These were reliable aswell and the discs themeselves were unbranded. It just said strand on the box.(30 disc pack with cases). The empty cases have been useful, though,
TRP

August 17th, 2006 at 6:23 pm
15

I have had MUCH LUCK with Walmarts DURABRAND. I LOVE DURABRAND. I agree w/most comments in reference to them. Last time I went to purchase CD-R from Walmart…they didn’t have DURABRAND. DID THEY STOP CARRYING THEM? That would be bad.
Seth

November 7th, 2006 at 8:49 am
16

Do any of you know what causes CD-R’s to skip and malfunction after having songs burned on at high speed dubbing from a stand-alone burner?