Every brand of blank media is made by different companies, other than the one who's name is on it. When you look near the bar-code of any cd-r or dvd+r, they are always made in these 3 or 4 different places: Taiwan, India, Mexico and Japan. From my experience, the ones that work best are made in JAPAN.

I'm definitely no expert, and if you use blank media for professional purposes, you should investigate this for yourself. I can tell you that Fuji is always made in Japan, and I've had a good success rate with them for a few weeks (since I learned this). Of course, checking every one before it goes out the door is a good idea, but you never know how long it will last; DVD-Rot is a real problem. Other than that, I would only buy them in stores so you can tell exactly where they came from.

And for the love of God, can someone just make a product that will last??

I have a Sony CD recorder and the thing is finicky. I tried Sony and Memorex brands and both ended up as expensive, colorful coasters. I never had a problem with Maxell, the reproduced sound is excellent and each and every disc finalizes with no problem. Playback on other machines is never an issue. I won't use anything else and I buy my blanks at Sam's Club, 50 discs including the slim jewel cases for $18.00.

I would like to say that with this pack so far I have not experienced any problems, but I have previously experienced problems with maxell products on their older CD-Rs. Maxell isn't the greatest brand, but they do their job and serve their purpose. personally, I wouldn't buy maxell for an important job, for fear that it might screw up on me or not burn correctly. for a simple job for a friend (such as copying a cd or copying a file to a disc), look no further. these are great for semi-permanent files. for more trustworthy stuff, look elsewhere though. TDK, Memorex, Fuji, and Imation are good brands for burning media.