I doubt I will ever consider myself a computer guru or part of the 'computer geek' crowd [some of the coolest people I have ever met]. When I need help with the computer I do one of three things – check to see who is online and beg them for help, bake a batch of cookies for the ‘video game geeks’ and ask them for help and as a last resort I go online to try and find information and help. When I came across the TDK CD-R’s at Sam Goody I didn’t have time to call anyone or check and see if this was a good deal or not. A spindle of 50 blank discs marked down to $11.99 – the inner shopping fiend in me couldn’t pass it up so I grabbed the container and proceeded to pay for it. I asked if I could check out the discs first to make sure they were in good shape [this was a clearance item] and asked about returning it if there were any problems with it.

Arriving home I pushed the stack of Maxell 74 minute blank discs [both CD-R and CD-RW] out of the way to make room for the new discs on the block. I wasn’t all that thrilled that I’d have to invest in jewel cases but it did give me a very valid excuse to go to Best Buy the following day. Opening the plastic spindle case again I pulled out the blank protective disc and reached for the first CD-R from the stack. Pulling up the Nero Burn program I selected a list of tracks, threw the CD in the drive and let it rip. About seven minutes later I heard the CD door eject the new CD. Burning CD’s is nothing new to me but I wanted to hear the quality of the music and compare it to the other CD’s I’d ripped in the past.

Ease of Use

I’ve gone through about half of the spindle so far and have only had two discs that gave me trouble. One was when I was trying to copy a CD that had a few scratches on it. It said that it had copied and ejected both the original and copied CD from the decks on the computer but when I went to play the copied disc it showed that there was nothing on the disc. The second problem came when I tried to copy some HTML files from the hard drive on my computer to the blank disc. No matter what I tried it [rearranging the list, creating the list from scratch etc] it wouldn’t copy. I tried a blank Memorex disc and it copied the files perfectly.

Overall these are great to have around and can be used for multiple types of media. I’ve stored HTML pages, text files [Word and Works], photos, music files and AVI’s. Barring the above mentioned issues it’s been a breeze to use these discs. I highly recommend them to people who need non specific discs for storage, creating music CD’s or for having back up copies of text or image files. Since these are one time use CD’s you won’t be able to rerecord them so make sure you get it right the first time. So far the price I paid [$11.99] has been more than worth it.

The Discs

The face of the disc is silver with a series of small dots that cover it from the center to the edge. There is a small swirl pattern at the center of the disc and a small section towards the outer edge where you can write information. The information about the disc is also stamped on the face [80 minutes, 700 MB, Recordable]. The back of it has the usually blue hue to it. These aren’t as sensitive as the Maxell discs I’ve used in the past and they seen to retard a lot of fingerprints and dust. Since there isn’t a lot of room to write information on the front of the CD you can use information jackets on jewel cases to document the contents of the CD. I’ve yet to use the CD Stomper but when I learn how to use it I’ll update this review as to how it works with these discs.

To label the discs I’ve been using Sanford Sharpie markers [permanent, fine tip] or Avery permanent markers. To try and use any other marker is a waste of time since most of the time the ink will wear off after 10 – 15 uses and will leave you with a rather shaggy looking disc. For about $1.29 you can purchase small adhesive stickers that are applied to the center portion of the disc. These will allow you a small space to label the contents but not enough to list all the tracks of a CD or volumes of text.

The Spindle

I’m usually not a huge fan of blank discs that come packaged this way since the over packing is usually cheap and ends up falling apart. The bottom portion of the spindle is gray and made of very thick plastic and the over packing is thick and turns easily. There is a locking feature that prevents the discs from spilling all over the place and the words ‘lock’ and ‘open’ are clearly marked on the top of the unit. One thing I really want to mention – especially for those that are new to these discs is the two faux completely see through dummies that are included with this assortment. They are located at the top and bottom of the CD stack and are there to protect the discs that are in between them. These are clear, have no recording value and should not be placed into any CD player or writer. I do like to hold on to these to place in between discs to separate the 74 minute ones from the 80 minute ones – but other than that – they serve a very limited use.

Warranty

You have to either take off the lid of the spindle cover or carefully pull off the cardboard wrap around the spindle to read the warranty information. First off – I save all my receipts. I might not be the most organized person and it might take me a week to find a receipt – but eventually I will find it. Hold on to your receipt of this purchase since you will need it if you run into any trouble. Per the inside band of the card board wrapper:

“This product, if defective in material or workmanship and returned postage prepaid with proof of purchase to the appropriate address below will be replaced free of charge”

So you have a lifetime warranty providing that it wasn’t your fault [left in the sun, stepped on, scratched by the cat etc]. Additionally, the information on the inside of the cardboard band is printed in French, English and Spanish for your convenience. I suggest that you tape the receipt to the inside of the cardboard label or if it is a thermal receipt make a copy of it in case you need to return a disc for replacement. Since I had two defective discs I opted to wait until I made my way through the stack before I submitted a request for replacement discs. When I do submit a request I will update this review with any pertinent information regarding the transaction.

Cost

The suggested retail price for the 50 pack spindle is between $19.99 and $24.99. That makes the bottom line between .45 and .50 cents per disc which isn’t too bad considering that they allow you to record 80 minutes of music. For me it’s a little on the high side for one that can’t be recorded over but that’s just my personal opinion. I picked these up a few months ago at Sam Goody when they were having a huge sale on ‘junk’ that wasn’t selling in the store. Along with some Maxell discs, plastic sleeves and assorted Nightmare Before Christmas items – I got these for $11.99 a spindle. The outside was a little scratched up but when I cracked open the spindle [in front of a clerk] all the discs looked like they were untouched by human hands an in mint condition. Since this was a sale item I made sure that if there were any problem with it that I could return it – something that you really need to ask an associate before you make the purchase and leave the store.

The Bottom Line

So far I am pretty impressed with the CD’s, the audio quality and their ability to retard fingerprints. A few of the discs that I copied a month or so ago are seeing almost daily use and are holding up nicely. I’ve made my way through about 25 – 30 of these discs and have only had two that gave me trouble. The sturdy and solid spindle case really shocked me because I whole-heartedly expected it to be a cheap piece of plastic that would cave in after a week or so of use. If you are looking for a basic blank disc to store assorted media on – I highly suggest checking out the TDK Data CD-R discs.


The Stats

Name: TDK Data CD-R
Packaging: 50 on a spindle, no jewel cases provided
Audio Length: 80 minutes
Storage Capacity: 700 MB
Maximum Speed Up to 16x compatible
Warranty: Lifetime against defects
UPC: 0 20356 47896 4
Country Where Manufactured: Taiwan


Side Note

The Epinions listing for this product is “Blank_Media-All-50PK_CDR_MEDIA_700MB_80MIN_CD_R80CB50”. While this isn’t completely wrong it took me about 15 minutes of looking through the database and eventually giving up on finding the product before I entered the TDK product code “R80CB50” and found this category. No photo is listed but if you look at the information section it does say TDK. If you would like to see a photo of this product, feel free to visit the TDK website at www.tdk.com and refer to the ‘media storage’ section.


As always, thanks for the visit!

^V^ Freak ^V^

© 2002 Freak369




Recommended: Yes