I wrote:
>
> > > My own personal experience is that CD-RW is more
> > > temperamental.
>
Since a few people have commented on this I think I should give a little
more detail.
I have extensively used CD-R even some dodgy cheap brands in my car 10
CD-stack. These discs are exposed to temperatures from just under 0C to
around 50C - no doubt wild fluctuations in humidity too. Non of these disks
have displayed any problems at any time other than the odd unrepeatable skip
on a big bump. Some were frequently swapped but others spent 2-3 years in
there.
I have since changed cars and wanted to install a CD MP3 player. I couldn't
get one at sensible price in the UK so I tried a personal MP3 CD player
(Napa Dav 310 largely dictated by UK availability) - it's a load of rubbish
and has a firmware bug that makes it skip approx 1.5MB into any file
recorded at anything other than 128kbits. With this unit I found my TDK
CD-RW would only play reliably in the car if I recorded at 4x or lower and
with the anti-shock in full on mode at 8x or 10x it would only work when the
unit was sat on a firm platform. This sort of problem was not uncommon with
similar units according to several bulletin boards. The Napa went back -
it's a load of rubbish and has a firmware bug that makes it skip approx
1.5MB into any file recorded at anything other than 128kbits.
I now have a Kenwood in-dash MP3 (MP6090R - 8090 in US I think) this works
great but it did suffer the odd problem whilst using the TDK R/W disc, but
is apparently flawless with any old CD-R.
I have also on several occaisions written to cheap CD R/W and been unable to
read it minutes later on the writer or anything else. Yet I can re-write it
and it reads fine.
Whilst I realise some of these problems are in part due to the quality of
the electronics or cheap media. Not all have been and it rather suggests
that the technology is running on the edge.
Oh and the cheap CD-RW media was acquired by accident. I was sent the wrong
CDs mail order. I couldn't be bothered with the hassle of returning them so
I negotiated a discount to forget about it (I paid 40p a disc 2 years ago).
I only use these discs to transfer big files from one machine to another
where I have no network link. For this they are great - except when they
suffer temporary amnesia.
Oh and the cheap CD-Rs were deliberately bought for the car when there was
quite a significant price difference - no point having good one's knicked
and I could always remake them from the originals.
Steve
