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The quality's no worse than normal CDs as far as I'm aware
Generally, yes, but there are other potential problems with CDRWs.
Firstly CDRW can sometimes be a little temperamental in being read. I've often found one PC won't read from the disc where another will (as opposed to CDRs which I've never had a problem with). Although this has happened with more than one CDRW, it could be that they were just badly pressed discs.
With regards to lifespan, it's been said - well, by Sony at an rate - that a CDRW is good for 1000 rewrites (although nobody is really sure just how long they do last, and it almost certainly varies from disc to disc). Certainly, the CDRW metal alloys used can only be heated and cooled for a finite number of times before they cease to be affected by the laser, since they are constantly changing the disc from a crystalline to an amorphous state.
The biggest problem however, is in the disc's TOC (Table Of Contents), which, if you do a lot of reburns and/or file updating, gets changed so frequently that it is the first 'to go', even though the actual files that the TOC points to may be recorded properly.
Still, generally speaking, CDRWs are pretty stable and whilst you will get a duff disc out of every say 100, you shouldn't have any serious problems.
Any specific brand name that supposed to be better than the others?
I personally go for Memorex or TDK, but that's largely because I've been using them since my cassette days and I've never had a bad product from them. Largely it seems to be a case of you get what you pay for, not because expensive CDRs are any better per se, but because packs of expensive CDRs are less likely to contain bad discs. |
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