Bad CDR or Picky Burner

Almost all major manufacturers now only produce "A" grade CD-R's due to maturity of the production techniques. The first tier manufacturers (Ritek, CMC, and Prodisc, combined accounted for well over 60% of world's CDR production) might get up to 1% of so-called sub quality (but still within the specification tolerance).  Smaller manufacturers could have 3% or over sub quality one.

Then, why there are still a lot of CDR's being turned into coasters if only a tiny percentage of CDR's are not so good?  It is because over 90% of burning problems are caused by hardware/software but not the disc itself.  Of course, you might get more coasters using sub quality (i.e. B/C grade) CDR's.  However, if your burner just turned into a coaster maker, don't blame the disc yet, you might just have a picky burner or your system has a problem.

We have encountered one old Philips burner that didn't even register the Philips brand CDR's.  My burner also acted funny before and with a new CD-ROM drive, now I hardly get a coaster even with the cheapest CDR.

Brand on CDR's now means little in terms of quality.  CDR's are all with reasonable quality (unless you are getting some made by those very small manufacturers).   It is more of a compatibility with your burner that counts.  It is more important to identify the manufacturer and get the disc from the bigger ones.  Specially, if you have a picky burner, find the CDR works one your machine and stick to it.  Software such as CD Identifier or Fuerio can help you to identify the manufacturers.

Below is a list of few manufacturers and their OEM brands. 

Please be aware the list is a guide only and it may not be updated as CDR brand holder might change OEM manufacturers (e.g. Philips switched from Ritek to CMC) or have several manufacturers producing for them (e.g. ASAK prior to June 2002).