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.)
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