Saw this on a forum, never noticed myself (I use Maxell at the moment) have anybody here had this problem ?
Hi, everybody. A trading colleague of mine recently sent me an email warning me about Taiwanese CD-Rs, and the damage that they can do to lasers - extracts of his email are provided below. Until his email, I had never heard of this problem. I know that there are concerns about the longevity of Taiwanese CD-Rs, but have never heard of laser damage caused by the chemicals used!! My question is, has anybody else had any
similar experiences with Taiwanese CD-Rs, or have ever heard of such a problem? Is it only a problem with CD-R burners, or are CD players also affected, albeit over a longer period of time? Any information would be greatly appreciated. Nick.
....
I wanted to let you know that I had a really bad, expensive experience with Taiwan-made discs. I have two pro industry decks that record in real-time only. Back a few years ago, I began using the Taiwan-made recordable discs due to the fact that no Japanese -made discs were locally available. Big mistake on my part. The laser on one of my recording decks was coated and destroyed due to the chemical
applied to the Taiwan discs. The odor of the chemical is so strong one can smell it on each disc.
With my laser being in contact with the cdr for so long, the inside of my deck smelled like a toxic fire after burning a number of Taiwan discs. However, I foolishly continued to use them and after 20 discs or so, the recorder began "skipping" and not recording correctly. I had to replace the entire laser unit at considerable cost. Thats when I discovered and began using Taiyos and Mitsuis.
Although simply playing the discs in cd players doesnt create as much smell and smoke, I believe them to still adversely affect any laser. I know they do, in fact - I have since had to replace the laser in the cd player I used the most, and theres no question in my mind that the Taiwan discs I played in it definitely contributed to the laser failure. It was coated too when I had it replaced and the player was less than a year old at the time. It just takes more discs over time to coat the
laser surface of a player than the intense heat/smoke of a recorder is all.
Taiyo Yudens are made in Japan. So are Mitsuis. Both have no odor and burn cleanly.
Its what they ALL were like (at least the name brands were, anyway) before they moved to Taiwan and used a different chemical to save costs. (the chemical name of which escapes me) I brought the owner/tech of the repair business (and this guy fixes high-end
equipment) some blank Taiwans (they were Sonys) to smell and examine. He told me to not use them under any circumstances anymore, as he said the lasers were definitely destroyed by the Taiwan Sonys. He said the smell was unbelievable when he opened the units. He said the sides of the inside player and recorders cabinet were coated as
well, and he showed me. The chemical may be ok to use in a fast burning computer burner, but in a 1:1 real-time burner, it killed it.
Tys are considered the #2 errorless disc in the world and Mitsuis are #1. They are Japanese -made. Maxell used to be made in Japan but they too have gone Taiwan. You can tell not just by the "Made in Taiwan" on the label but the smell of the disc as well. You cant miss that smell. All of the Taiwans have it to some degree because they apparently all use the same chemical. (I think most if not all Taiwans, no matter what brand, are all made in one or two factories. Taiwan discs simply do not "burn" cleanly.
