Silver, Blue and Green CD Media

[Walter Ego]

As side from the multi-color CD packs and black CD blanks, most CD-R media
is the standard silver color. I've been told the blue or green blanks _may_
be more compatable with CD audio players than the standard silver. Is this
true?

The trouble is that unless you buy and open various brands you don't know if
they're blue or green. I did see an opened pack of Fuji CDs at a store today
that were blue.

Opinions?

W.E.

[Mike Richter]

Walter Ego wrote: As side from the multi-color CD packs and black CD blanks, most CD-R media is the standard silver color. I've been told the blue or green blanks _may_ be more compatable with CD audio players than the standard silver. Is this true? The trouble is that unless you buy and open various brands you don't know if they're blue or green. I did see an opened pack of Fuji CDs at a store today that were blue. Opinions?

Taiyo-Yuden, the inventor of the CD-R, has a patent on that blue cyanine
dye and charges a stiff price for it. Consequently, it's hard to find
from any other manufacturer. (Your Fuji were rebadged T-Y.) Drives that
like phthalocyanine (the straw-colored dye) are often less happy with
cyanine and vice versa. Note that the green appearance comes from seeing
a gold layer through a blue dye - there is no green dye.

With one exception, I've found no consistency in compatibility of
cyanine and phthalocyanine dyes with types of players. The exception is
the Hitachi drives favored in many laptops; those want cyanine on gold.

Mike
--
mrichter@cpl.net
http://www.mrichter.com/