Recordable and re-writable CD's are one of the most popular forms of storage nowadays for computers, and this is no doubt down to the inevitable gradual-distinction of floppy disks, and the slump in prices for CDs. Nobody seems to use floppydisks anymore, they are too unreliable and can hardly fit any data too (1.44 MB usually) and when you compare this to the 700MB or so that CD's can hold, you can see why these are more popular. CD's can last over a hundred years too (according to the BenQ website) - if they are kept in the perfect conditions.
Where I got them & price
I decided to purchase these BenQ CD-R's as I felt that 100disks which hold 700MB, for only £10, is a really good price. This works out at about 10p per CD, which isn't bad at all! It sounds ridiculous that you can pay a couple of quid for a few floppy disks, combining about 5MB, where as for £10 you can get 100 CD-Rs which combined will hold 7GB. I purchased the Ben Q CD-R's from the Dabs website, and it has a wide array of other CD-R's and CD-RW's. CD-R's can only have data burned on them once, and after you do this the 'burning session' is closed, meaning you cannot come back to the CD later and add or delete anything. The CD is finished and complete. Whereas
with CD-RW's they can be used over and over again, once you burn data to them you can come back to it later on and delete data and add data, and so on. So in theory you could just buy one CD-RW and keep using it over and over, but if you wish to make a music CD it isn't really practical - and sometimes standard CD players won't play a CD-RW disc anyway. I purchased the CD-R's though because they are cheaper then Re-writable ones, and I am mainly going to be using them for copying music CD's, so I don't need to delete the data and re-use the disk.
Brief history
Ben Q is a company which has been established since 1984, and mainly specialises in the production of recordable storage, such as CD-R's, CD-RW's, DVD-R's, and so on. This is what the company is best known as doing, producing cheap, reliable discs, though they also manufacture CD-R storage drives, and top quality monitors too, which is another field that they are very well known in.
Specification
The discs themselves hold about 700MB of data, equivalent to about 18 audio (WAV) tracks on a CD. This is about 80minutes of audio, if you are burning a music CD to play in a typical stereo. The speed of the discs is 48x, which is near enough the fastest you can get. It takes about 10minutes to create an audio CD, and this is on an average speed whilst running Nero Express software. There are 100 discs in the box, which is more then enough for even the most wasteful person.
Packaging
The BenQ packaging is pretty simple, but allows for quick easy access to the disc, for even the laziest people. All the discs are placed on a spindle type device, a little plastic stick fixed to a plastic base, with a see-through plastic container type lid. The CD's sit on the spindle and you simply take off the lid and pull one off whenever you want one. The lid gets pushed to the base and then turned to slot into place, and you hear a click when this is done correctly. This is to prevent dust and things getting into the discs, damaging them even before they have been used. The spindle is also shrink wrapped, so that the protective case doesn't get scratched or damaged and so the discs reach you in good condition. The plastic covering the container and spindle is purple coloured, and has the BenQ logo printed on it, with some fancy designs.
One of the bad things about this form of packaging is that the discs don't come with cases to keep them in - probably why theses CD-R's are so cheap too. The fact that a spindle is used to hold the discs means that once you have burned some data to one, you don't really have anywhere to keep the disc and if you're like me then you end up just piling your discs up on top of each other - and this doesn't do the discs any good, they end up getting damaged. There isn't really any way around this, unless you save up old cases from free discs you may receive in PCmagazines and such, but not everyone has these available to them. I end up putting the disc in with another music CD, which still isn't ideal.
Disc design
The discs have a golden surface, and have a little silver pattern on its left hand side. The words BenQ are written on the right hand side, with the disc speed and the size, and also the fact that it's a CD-R disc. It also mentions the fact that the discs use DataGuard Technology. Towards the bottom of the disc there are 2 lines marked on the disc, acting as a guide to the user, if they wish to write on the disc. This is really helpful as it helps you to keep the disc looking tidy and will help you to do a more professional job! As a note though you will need special pens to write on the CD, you can't use a felt-tip or anything as this will smudge, so you have to purchase some CD-R pens which cost about £3.
Manufacture support
Though it is very unlikely that you will encounter errors or problems whilst using these discs, the BenQ website is very user-friendly and supportive. It's really rare that you would encounter any kinds of problems with these discs whilst burning data - it is much more likely that you would encounter software problems if anything, and I am not too sure how BenQ would be able to help you if you were to have problems with these discs. There are contact details for BenQ on the packaging if you were to encounter any kinds of problems though, which is handy.
My feelings
When using these discs I have encountered no problems at all. I currently use Nero 6 Express (I think this is the latest version) and personally I think this is the best burning software available. The discs manage to hold 700MB, so BenQ aren't lying about the size! And they also hold about 80 minutes of audio, which is more than a typical album amount really. Barely have I encountered albums which over-run this, so I have been quite lucky, but 80 minutes is still a lot of time. One problem which I did encounter recently was that a CD I created jumps a lot in my mates car. I haven't been able to test this on a different CD player yet, and have never met this kind of problem before and I have burned a lot of music CD's. It is very hard to tell whether it was just my CD-drive's fault though as I was using quite a lot of processor power at the time when I was making the CD, so this is likely to be the cause of the jumpy-tracks. One complaint about these discs is that they do tend to get scratched ever so easily, and it seems like this is more so then normal CD's. Perhaps this is down to the quality of the surface, or maybe the fact that the discs don't come with cases so they get left around a bit more, which would have been my own fault really.
Conclusion
Personally I don't think anyone could complain when they buy 100CD-R's for £10 - working out at 10p per disc, especially when all the discs are great quality and manage to fit up to 700MB of data on them. I don't encounter any problems at all when using these discs, at least not that I think are the discs fault. I am consistently able to make quality music CD's which last a long time, as well as making data CD's too, and all of this is done in about 5/10minutes, and this is still at an average speed setting in Nero Express. One downside to these discs is that they don't come with cases, so the discs are easier to damage unless you buy some cases or something separately. I also find these discs scratch very easily, so it would be best to get some sort of storage set up for them. Overall though you can't complain when you get 100 discs for just £10, and I recommend these to anyone who wants to save a bit of money, but not necessarily lose out on the quality - buy some now!
How helpful would this review be to a person making a buying decision? Rating guidelines
Great review, i use phillips Cds usually but when i run out i might try BenQ Cds as they sound a bargain. Where can i get a Cd-R pen from?? Laura x x x
nicolapearson 21.06.2005 18:03
Great review Nicola x
Deru 14.06.2005 20:41
You meant 100 for £20 at the end right? You said £20 at the start. £10 sounds too good to be true unless buying silver tops but could be out there. These sound good. Will keep this in mind.
exceptional by (5%):
very helpful by (95%):
