Hi,
Allow me to chime in on this. I remember when there was a lot of discussion
on the various dyes used in CDR media and their longevity. At that time,
circa Sept. 2001, someone here mentioned a program that checks your media
for its composition and gives a report. I just looked thru my downloads and
found it. It is discontinued, but still downloadable at
http://www.gum.de/it/download/english.htm It does not work with all
recorders, so be aware of that. I found that the media that came with my
Plextor, and the media that they recommend for their recorders are ones that
have "longevity". Longevity being a relative term. 25 years is more than
I'll ever see :) I have also found that Verbatum is another with long term
dye. You can try it for yourself, if it works with your recorder.
BTW, Maxell disks are "short term" in the dye dept,  but I use them as well
due to their relative availability on the shelf.
TDK are long term. But as Kyle stated, I would venture to guess that even
these manufacturers alter compositions due to market forces and therefore
quality of media is subject to change.
Also on the page it talks about adapting this program to "new versions of
Windows". It works fine on XP Pro for me.
FWIW,
Brad Loomis
Morro Bay, CA

-----Original Message-----
Hi John,
My moto has always been, "You get what you pay for."  No company in their
right mind is going to "guarantee" against data loss for long periods of
time, and CD burning has only been main-stream for about four or five years
now (gosh, remember the days when...), so it's pretty hard to have any
conclusive evidence.  However, I usually trust names like Maxell, Sony, HP,
and TDK to provide a good product.  I buy a lot of cheap CDs to keep various
utility installs, downloaded movie files (I have a TON of Star Wars fan
films), and other information that is not too critical.  But, if I'm making
a backup of something I know I will want to keep safe for a very long time
(I have scanned photos of my family dating back before my grandparents
time), I use Maxell.

Please keep in mind that the opinions expressed here are those of the
author, and do not necessarily constitute fact.

Kyle Elmblade

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