Tong Family

Media – Club CD Freaks – Worlds Largest CD/DVD Community. This is where the hard core folks who study the various CD media live. _Interesting that google doesn’t index any of it, so there is still reason for blogs like mine._
An interesting factoid on “CD Freaks”:http://cdfreaks.com “poll”:http://www.cdfreaks.com/poll/26 is that 39% of all hard core CD nerd favor disks made by Taiyo Yuden. MCC or Mitsubishi Chemical Corporation (which is Verbatim) at 16% was second. The main problem is that Taiyo Yuden is hard to get in the US.
The main issue is that different brand names sold at retail package different CDs from different vendors. For instance, the Verbatim DatalifePlus CDs that I have come out being made by MCC or Mitsubishi Chemical Corporation.
From their “FAQ”:http://club.cdfreaks.com/showthread.php?t=61943#1)1
bq. Q: How do I know who made my discs?
bq. A: There is a code written on every disc, called the ATIP(ADIP). This contains information about dye type, possible maker of the disc, length of the disc (size) and type of disc. (R, RW, audio, video, etc.) Many programs can read this information. Nero, Nero InfoTool, and the LiteOn utility: SmartBurn Media Checker are all widely used. DVDIdentifier is a popular tool for checking information on DVD media and drives. Many of the other burning programs are also now reporting the ATIP/ADIP information on media. The SmartBurn utility also reports the max speed that the disc can be burned at, on a LiteOn drive with SmartBurn enabled. Some of these “readers” of ATIP information may report different disc makers, on the same disc. The codes are not always reliable, and are sometimes “faked” by unscrupulous media sellers. But with well-known media sellers and brand names, the codes are usually reliable.
But, the Verbatim non-Datalifes come out as being made by CMC which probably why the DatalifePlus CDs are twice as expensive. Many times, different CDs are sold with different specifications than what the manufacturer says, so read the forums carefully expecially cdfreaks.com if you really want the best quality. Of course for most music, it doesn’t matter that much since a few errors you won’t hear.