Ok, thanks for the info/assessments... I'm re-'enlightened'.
Sorry to run on, but...
I've scrounged around before on media quality rating sites (to get the Verbatim recommendation), but for me, I'm just not going to go to the trouble of finding where (brand xyz)'s current disc factory lot is coming from (if that's possible) every time... Fuji may be junk, now, for demanding users... I guess I'm not one. I burn 'em, I play 'em, I see no 'artifacts'... what's 'junk' about that? (and few, if any, 'coasters'... guess TY made 'em).
When I go to the store, Taiyo Yuden isn't on the shelf and how I'd find their client list 'of the moment' (it seems), I dunno, except online... fuss and bother! ...(is there a factory id on the inner ring? Not that we'd see in the store.) Seems fairly mercurial anyway. I've heard the dismal assessment of Memorex before... only picked up some because I needed a cheap quick fix, they sat on the shelf unfortunately and now I've got 'bit' I guess (besides having Vista rather than XP drivers now). Usually I buy certain brand-name spindles of 100 or 50... as long as they work to my level of expectation and don't 'rot' right away, that's good enough for me... (but then I like 128k bitrate mp3's too, with DFX's enhancer... however, given changes in MP3 stores offerings, I'll take 256k files now). Seems Taiyo Yuden supplied a number of brands, which you can't depend on always being the case...
As for burners... being a wee bit definitive on my Sony reference, aren't we?
Sony sells the DRU-xxx PC burners under the Sony brand name, so I label it a Sony. Didn't know they farmed them out... I just haven't had that much trouble burning (outside of +R's on the XP notebook), even with my eMachines. eMachine is probably viewed as junk too, but they work for me... saves money, enables whole system replacement more often (for technology changes, not failures or quality). I do want to upgrade for some new gaming, but I knew that going in...
I tend to Keep It Simple & Stable anyway... few background processes, etc.
I just reference the drives by either their brand/model on the box they come in, or the ID presented in Device manager, or if I really care, some disc info tool, if I have to go that far. So to me, a Sony burner is a Sony burner... PC or stand-alone recorder... I expect/hope they're not accepting 'junk' hardware.
I see there are bitsetting tools out there, so I'll go read the link you gave... and maybe try +R's again... thanks, and sorry if I'm being 'cavalier' with my media/drive references/preferences. Guess I'm either chronically lucky, manage to work around limitations, or just don't need those higher quality products. Just watching a movie... didn't have a lot of coasters until these Memorex failures... teach me to try the cheap end of the pool.
To digress further...
... I also think High Def is a joke in some ways... particularly whenever I see pixelated motion on any/every screen in the store... or artifacts. Analog tv may be less sharp but pixelation is so... step backward. Yes they set up in-store poorly, but digitally discrete can sometimes be a poor substitute for experiencing analog life... complexity is (job) security though
I'll stop now. Again, thanks for the info. My novices aren't up to it, I'm sure... chronic unpaid support is so not my life.