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To podunkviller,
I believe the current worst of the worst are:
a) CMC Magnetics Corp.
b) Lead Data Inc.
c) Gigastorage Corp.
d) AMS Technology Inc.
These manufacturers above, no matter the dye type, have given me countless hours of pain over the years. AMS has been particularly bad, so bad that at times that in some batches of discs, 30-40 in every 100 are unusable!!!
RiTEK has improved over the last two years to such an extent that they can be classed as high quality = on par with Taiyo Yuden.
As for TDK, all TDK standard media distributed in Oceana (i.e. Australia/New Zealand) is made by RiTEK. This presents no cause for concern as I have used 100's of these discs without a hitch. The reflective layers seem thick and strong too!
TDK Gold media, however, are made by CMC Magnetics Corp., so stay away at ALL COSTS!!!
TDK Corp. no longer make their own media. If you can find the old 1x-8x "Made in Japan" TDK CD-R's at a good price, buy as many as you can afford!
The new Verbatim DataLifePlus/Mitsubishi CD-R's have a lighter blue dye because older dark-blue dye cannot reliable record at over 16x-speed. The dye was modified in order for higher speed recordings to be possible. While I'm on the subject, stay clear of Verbatim ValuLife and DataLife (non-Plus) discs, they're made by CMC!!!
The best manufacturers in my humble opinion are:
a) Taiyo Yuden Company Ltd.
b) Mitsui Chemicals Inc.
c) Ricoh Company Ltd.
d) TDK Corp.
e) Mitsubishi Chemical Corp.
f) Pioneer Video Corp.
g) RiTEK Corp.
h) Prodisc Technology Inc.
i) Kodak Japan Ltd.
In Australia, there currently seems to be an overabundance of Taiyo Yuden "That's CD-R" 1x-24x 80min CD-R's priced to sell at AU$10-$15 per carton of 10 or AU$35 per 50-spindle. They're the current best buys.
If you can't find these, there's always Verbatim/Mitsubishi.....
FB.
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