whicgh cd-r`s should i use when burning audio ?
i need to know the best brand to buy
:bouncing:

I only use Taiyo Yuden CD-R's for audio work. They are a manufacturer that are sometimes branded with Fuji and (so far) always by Maxell Pro. Either way, look for "Made in Japan" on the label (those are TY's) and avoid "Made in Taiwan" (that is CMC Magnetics) at all costs - which is any other brand such as TDK, regular Maxell, some Fuji cases, Memorex, Imation, any store brand like CompUSA or OfficeDepot, and any store-bought unbranded spindle pack.

You can buy unbranded TY's online from places like newegg.com. I buy the injet printable coated cd-r's.

Another maker is MAM-A/Mitsui and their Archival Gold CD's. Most professionals use those. Mitsui also holds up better to heat and light (like in a car) than the TY's, but the TY's can handle it okay as long as you don't keep your cd-r's fully exposed to the sun in one of those sun-viser slip holders that I always see poeple sun-burning thier cd-r's with.

Joel

Hi

I have purchased some verbatim Audio through amazon.

Definately recommend those.

whicgh cd-r`s should i use when burning audio ?
i need to know the best brand to buy
:bouncing:

There is no specifc answer to your question.

Altough JDF states his favorite brand, there is no garentte they will work hand in hand with your CD-Writer. The only way you can find out which works best for you is to test a number of different brands or unbranded discs. Don’t be fooled by thinking the more expensive a disc is the better it will be, this is not the case.

The colour of the disc will not affect on how long that disc will work but will affect the quality of the recording - for more insight to this I recommend reading http://www.mscience.com/faq53.html

It's true that there are several factors involved.

What I've stated is something that many audiophiles have agreed to after years of working with writing/burning audio to cd-r's.

And the OP specifically mentioned burning audio cd's. To me, that automatically assumes a wide usage in many different players and environments - even if it's only used by the same person.

I've used the CMC Magnetics made blanks and once they'd gone past 16x speed blanks, they just didn't hold up after about a month. I've had to re-burn those disc to TY's and after 4 years, they still play fine in every player I stick them in - from my 10 year old laserdisc player, to my 17 year old Sony CD player, to my brand new Sony CD player and the CD changer in my car. That includes several pieces of equipment that were around before burners were as cheap as they are or even before the cd-r was available.

To me, it's all about compatibility.

But, I do agree that the burner used is important.

Also important is the speed of the burn. Burning at a burner's or media's top speed is not always the best for audio. Although, it's not possible anymore nor required to burn at 1x, it's usually better to burn at about half the top speed of the burner. If you have a 48x burner, it seems better to burn audio at 24x (assuming the media is rated for that too, otherwise, you have to drop the speed down more). Things may be fine at top speed, but try the disc on as many different players as possible to see what works best. If it plays fine where ever you're going to play it, then go full speed. If there is going to be a problem, it usually shows up around the last quarter of a full 80 minute cd-r (tracking begins to skip at about the 55 to 70 minute mark).

Just a quick note after your comment JDK.

Its is also recommended that one should use a 74min disc when "backing-up" audio, this is the international standard for discs and you will find that most CD-Writer manufactures will not support issues regarding 80min discs.

True enough, unless you're backing up one of the few commercial CD's that are manufactured to run longer than 74 minutes. I've got a few that do.

Both disc's of the Blondie comp, "Platinum Collection", run about 78 minutes each.

The 80 min. format actually just pushes the cd redbook spec to the tolerence limit that most players are capable of reaching by design - although it was not originally intended to play cd's longer than 74 minutes. It just happened to be a by-product of the tolerence that someone took advantage of.

But, technically, anything longer than 74 minutes is indeed not a redbook spec CD.