CDRLabs.com

Not much going on at Circuit City this week:

Memorex 50-pack 80-minute CD-R: $4.99 after MIR
(Made by CMC or Taiyo Yuden. Look for "Made in Japan" or the classic screw-top as pictured to identify Taiyo Yuden media. Speed rating may vary depending on stock available at your local store.)

product number = MEM 32024560

I/O Magic 52x24x52x external USB 2.0 CD-RW drive: $99.99 after MIR

product number = IMM ICDRW5252EU

That's about it, although if you are interested in a plain CD-ROM drive they have one for cheap:

Star Logic 52x CD-ROM drive: $9.99 after MIR

product number = SLC 11001058
The description says it contains SMART-X technology, so it is probably a LiteOn.

cfitz

More Circuit City deals through 3/31/03...

100-pack Circuit City 700MB/80MIN 32X CD-R Discs for $9.95 after mail-in rebates

http://www.circuitcity.com/detail.jsp?B ... &oid=53599

*SCORCHING*200-pack STI 650MB/74MIN 16X CD-R Discs for $4.99 after mail-in rebate!

http://www.circuitcity.com/detail.jsp?B ... &oid=35736

Those STI discs have a reputation as being awful junk and, in my opinion, are not worth using even if free. Even the comments on the Circuit City site itself are mostly very negative, including those from posters who gave the discs high ratings and intended to praise but inadvertently damned:

The ONLY CD-R I'll buy... I have burned 15 VCD's using the STI's and I have been succesful in 15 out of 17 tries. Just handle with care, the silver stuff flakes off eventually (rated the discs 4.5 out of 5)

Great cds, have 1 - 3 error disks in spindle (rated the discs 5 out of 5)

The dye coating is very fragile and tends to flake off at the smallest abrasive contact... Should be ok for backup/long term storage type uses (rated the discs 3 out of 5)

The above comments are from "fans" of this media. Posters who gave low ratings were a little more consistent in matching their ratings to their comments:

Garbage CD-Rs...AVOID THIS JUNK AT ANY PRICE! (rated the discs 1 out of 5)

Run away from this MEDIA! Words can't tell you how poor these CD-R's are! Let alone wait for the rebate! You can do much better (rated the discs 1.5 out of 5)

I don't consider any number of failures per spindle to be acceptable, and I would certainly never put a CD-R known to shed its reflective layer into one of my drives. I'm not fond of cleaning debris from the inside of my drives.

Of course, how much can one trust the people who leave comments on the Circuit City site? In addition to the genius above who intends to burn long-term backups on discs he has personally found to delaminate with the "slightest contact", here's one regarding the Circuit City branded discs:

This is the best CDR discs I have ever had. It works great on my 60x24x72 CD burner!

60x24x70 burner, huh? Listen up, boys and girls, don't drink and burn...

cfitz

<edit - added the actual scores reported by the users and some comments by those who gave low numeric scores>

what a good laugh
thanks, cfitz, i needed that...

Hey, I don't rate the discs, I just post the deals.

TheWizard wrote:Hey, I don't rate the discs, I just post the deals.

It wasn't intended as an attack on you, Wizard, and I hope you didn't take it that way. I just wanted to steer people away from making what is, in my opinion, the mistake of buying these discs at any price. There is no doubt that the price is phenomenal, if the discs are of even moderate quality. But they aren't. And the regret of lost data or a drive damaged by flakes of delaminated CD-R material will far outlive the glow of getting 200 discs for less than $5... In terms of my old college economics class, these discs have negative utility, and the only way I would consider them is if STI/Circuit City paid me (handsomely) to use them...

cfitz

I didn't take it as an attack, not to worry. I'm eeeeeasy-going on any communications medium (including this one) on the Internet.

Glad to hear it.

cfitz