The Best CD-Rs You Can Buy (TDK Reflex Ultra CD-R 700 MB 32x)

Member Name: basil40

Product:	TDK Reflex Ultra CD-R 700 MB 32x
Date:	03/02/05 (567 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Reliable, Effective, Sounds great

Disadvantages: Expensive

TDK have a long and respectable tradition in the production of blank media. In the 80's I'd tape the top 40 rundown on Radio One with crazy old Bruno Brookes using one of their many blank audio tape products. Around the same time I'd tape my favourite programmes (Gary Shandling, The Tube and Grange Hill) using a TDK blank video cassette.

And now, as we undergo burn and rip mania, I've started using their products for my MP3 collections too. Loyal? Well, yes. When the day comes that TDK let me down, I'm off to find a new brand. But in the meantime, if it ain't broke......

WHAT IS A CD-R?
CD-R stands for compact disc recordable as opposed to rewritable (that's a CD-RW). The difference between the two formats is that you can use a CD-RW over and over again, but a CD-R only once. CD-R, whilst capable of storing data other than music are best used for burning audio onto and it is this format that is used widely in the copying and burning of MP3s onto listenable CDs.

WHAT DOES A CD-R NEED TO BE ABLE TO WORK?

Three things.

1. A computer.

2. A rewritable drive, not just your bog standard CD-ROM drive.

3. Burning software. This is usually available free from the net at places like download.com and enables you to put your MP3s in the right order ready for burning.

WHAT DOES THE 650 MEAN IN THE PRODUCT TITLE?
There are two types of CD-R size. A 650 and a 700. These numbers correspond to the number of megabytes of space available. As a general rule, for music burners, a 650 will hold 74 minutes of music whilst a 700 will hold 80 minutes of music. In this instance, it's the lesser of the options but what six minutes (or one and a half songs) between friends?

SO WHAT MAKES THE CD-R 650 FROM TDK SO SPECIAL?
For me, it's the only product that I've 100% "burn-success" with in the five years I've been burning my own compilations. I've tried Verbatim and Maxell and they have always had slight problems in skipping, missing out the first few seconds of a track or black "ghost" tracks altogether. No such problems with TDK so far and as I've mentioned earlier, there's no point in changing a winning formula. Having said that, they do not produce my favourite brand of CD-RW but that's another story.

WHAT DOES IT SOUND LIKE?
I've read a lot lately that MP3s aren't as good in quality as CDs. Whilst this is true, I would suggest that if you burn your MP3s onto TDK's CD-R at a slow speed and create your MP3s at a high quality rate such as 192kbps then the difference in quality is barely noticeable. This never truer than on this particular CD-R.

WHERE?
HMV or VIrgin Megastores generally. (It's always surprised me that high street CD retailers actually sell the very product that could potentially put them out of business!). Failing that I've seen them in Woolies and even our local newsagents on one occasion.

HOW MUCH?
I've seen them for as little as £4.99 for a 5-pack or up to £7.99 for the same quantity.

OVERALL
If I've had no problems with this particular brand of CD-R so I'd be a fool not to recommend them to the Ciao community. They're easy to use, relatively cheap (£1 to £1.30 per CD in a 5-pack)

CONTACT DETAILS
www.tdk-europe.com
TDK Recording Media Europe SA
Z.I Bommelsheuer, L-4902
Bascharage
Luxembourg

Summary: