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It must have been years since I bought any blank CD-Rs (yeah you heard me, CD-Rs), but thanks to a friend of mine, I just realized that we ran out of them. Since I just bought a home CD player setup and I download Audio CD images, I figure I should buy a pack (and not worry about it for the next 10 years or something).

So I went to a local BestBuy and saw the Fujifilm 30-pack was on sale, but there were two different kinds of packaging for the same item (with the same barcode). One of them is yellow in color and it’s made in Taiwan. Fair enough, I thought. Then I took a look at the blue pack and it’s MADE IN JAPAN! Needless to say I happily bought the blue pack.

So, any physical difference between these and cheaper ones?

This is a no-name brand.

This is the one I just bought.

They are shot within a 5-minute span: same light conditions and same phone camera. Forgive my phone camera for failing to focus on the light rays, but clearly there are a lot less irregular reflections on the Fujifilm ones.

Does it matter for computer use? I wouldn’t care much, since computer can attempt to read trouble spots over and over again until it gets the bits right (though while in the process it would hang up your computer).

I think where it matters is when used with CD players, since CD players usually make a lot less attempts at reading the disc (maybe even just one).

Bottom line:
While I don’t feel like paying $10 for a mastering-quality CDR, I would definitely avoid no-name ones for audio use.

(Yeah, I know, I guess no one burns Audio CDs anymore.)

今日忽然記起一則陳年舊事…

那時是我大學二年級吧(？)，一天上完堂想開車回家時，發現我竟將車匙鎖在車內… 車匙當然有兩條，但另一條在我爸媽那裡，而我爸媽住在離我4小時車程的多倫多。  當時我依稀記得學校的 Parking Service 網頁說過有開鎖等基本服務，於是便到 office 找人… 不記得是什麼問題，總之就是沒這種服務，正當我想著怎辦的時候，排在我後面的一位小姐出手相助，原來她是學校的 TA ，她把她的 CAA card 給了我，為了讓我假扮是 CAA card 的持有人，連自己的地址也給我… 就是藉著她的幫助拿回車匙……

第二天便寫了張 thank you note 連同她的 CAA card 一起還給她，還附上自己的聯絡方法，just in case CAA給她寄帳單…

換著是我看到有完全不認識的人有小麻煩時，我會有這麼好人嗎？

病了，我條氣管果然係驕生慣養…… 真唔好彩，本來有機會去聽手波車理論的……

So the deal’s done.  I’ll return to work in just a week…. along with going to school full-time.  How can a slacker like me manage it?  I don’t know yet.

我同 Rogers 又簽三年約，就是為了個電話… 唔係俾自己 (自己就唔揀 Nokia 吧)，俾媽的… 本來諗住出部個樣「經典」既，如 Nokia 6133 彈蓋摺機，不過媽話想要呢部喎… 有樣估唔到，就係影相時冇聲！ 聽講呢兩年 Rogers 電話都 set 唔俾閂影相聲 (為了避免偷拍)，所以今次係個驚喜。