And to differentiate even further, Verbatim CDRs manufactured in JAPAN, not in in Taiwan are (according to people who care about the minutiae of these sorts of things) the creme de la creme - because they're usually actually Taiyo Uden. However, I was never able to find any and got tired of looking. The Verbatims I finally bought are from Taiwan and seem to be just fine. Finding Taiyo Yuden branded CDRs in the US is difficult to do in brick and mortar stores - but they are available under other labels if you look (according to rumor anyway - again, I couldn't find them!), and they are available online from places like
supermediastore.com (good reputation, good prices). From Wikipedia:
QUOTE
Taiyo Yuden branded products are not common outside of Japan (where Taiyo Yuden media has a market share of about 60%) but unbranded CDs and DVDs are available from some online retailers. Rebranded Taiyo Yuden media can be found under Fujifilm, Fusion, Maxell, Miflop, Panasonic, Plextor, Sony, TDK and Verbatim brands [2]. In Japan, Korea and Greece, Taiyo Yuden is distributing its own brand "That's".
Taiyo Yuden made DVD media has the following media codes:
TAIYOYUDEN: 2x DVD-R, hub stamper code: GBxxxxxx
TYG01: 4x DVD-R, hub stamper code: GDxxxxxx
TYG02: 8x DVD-R, hub stamper code: GGxxxxxx
TYG03: 16x DVD-R, hub stamper code: GHxxxxxx
TYG11: 8x DVD-R DL, hub stamper code: BGxxxxxx (incompatibilities with burners with outdated firmware)
YUDEN000 T00: 2.4x DVD+R, hub stamper code unknown
YUDEN000 T01: 4x DVD+R, hub stamper codes: TCxxxxxx or TSxxxxxx
YUDEN000 T02: 8x DVD+R, hub stamper code: TGxxxxxx
YUDEN000 T03: 16x DVD+R, hub stamper code: THxxxxxx
Infosmart of Hong Kong, Optodisc of Taiwan and other manufacturers from Hong Kong, Macau and China have been making discs which illegitimately use Taiyo Yuden's mediacodes and are prone to degradation and data loss. If those discs do not have one of these hub codes, they are most likely fakes and should not be used.
And if you really want to dive into this topic, there's no better place than:
http://club.cdfreaks.com/forumdisplay.php?f=33Yup...a forum and web site entirely devoted to recordable media & recording devices...