On Wed, 15 Jun 2011 09:26:51 -0400, "Rhino"
wrote:

That *is* a bit tricky. Manufacturers generally don't put their
brand on media, and brands generally buy from several manufacturers.
But stay away from Memorex. I really do believe that they buy the
dregs that didn't meet the specs of other brands.

I don't remember seeing ANY of the different recommended brands listed above
in my local stores but I could look around; maybe I'll get lucky. But it
seems like a crapshoot. After all, aren't most of the house brands that you
buy at places like Staples actually made by a major manufacturer and the
store then just puts its house brand on it?

Bingo. That's what I was talking about above.

So maybe the Staples CD-RWs I
have _are_ one of the recommended brands for this drive. Or not.

I would guess that they probably are. You should have software that
will tell you the manufacturer (CD info, something like that). But,
you can't tell until you get them home. Well, that will tell you who
made the die used to press the disks, but not necessarily who made the
disk. But that's the best you can do.

The stores,
of course, are sworn not to tell you what brand you are really buying....

I doubt that that's true. But there's really no way of knowing
unless you were involved in buying the disks from the manufacturer (or
a middelman). Even then, I remember buying a spindle from a major
brand, and half were from one manufacturer, and half from another.