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So I still need to ask, since this strongly impacts my archiving (data, DVDs, AND music): (1) Do CMC media have a shorter overall lifespan than their non-CMC counterparts (e.g., if I were to pull out two well-kept discs, both exactly 15 years old, would the CMC media fail to read/write/copy/etc.)? (2) If I were to make two image-based copies of an audio CD using ImgBurn -- both from exactly the same .bin/.cue files -- using one CMC and one non-CMC disc, will the non-CMC disc have lower-quality audio upon playback? Also, of note: I have had only a few burning failures while using ImgBurn, and as we know, i have been using CMC this whole time. Maybe I'm lucky? Really lucky? By the way, thanks to everyone for all your advice so far!

Hello, all! Long-time ImgBurn user and forum lurker; first-time poster. I'm VERY sorry for the long post. It consists of two questions. I have scoured these forums until I'm ready to pull my hair out and have not yet come to a conclusion on what are considered some reliable, non-CMC media, which I want for a huge project I've been working on for a long, long time. I'm particularly looking for CD-Rs, DVD-RWs, and DVD-Rs, in order of most important to least important. The project: Rip all of my CDs to my computer as 320kbps .mp3 files and use ImgBurn to make exact copies of each CD (with a second, backup copy of the rare/expensive ones). I was a music history major in college and have accumulated and lost so much music that I feel the need to archive what I have and back it up. Yes, I know about FLAC, etc. but .mp3s were the best that I was aware I had to work with when I started, so I continued from there. Upon searching for samples of each brand/type of recordable media I've used, they've all come up as CMC. Every... last... one -- regardless of brand. Regardless of what I search for on Amazon, it always comes up with CMC-positive media. It's like I can't escape. For what it's worth, I live in the U.S., so ordering shouldn't be a problem. Every time I search for TY on Amazon, their "CMC Pro" line pops up, which seems to make no sense re: all the good stuff I've heard about TY and all the terrible stuff I've heard about CMC media. QUESTION 1: Can anyone list one or more non-CMC media of the types mentioned above so I can start making truly reliable backups of my most important stuff? If they're available on Amazon, all the better; if not, I'll buy from wherever if I must. I make only enough money to get by, but I can save up to shell out some money if I can't get any... "affordable"... answers. QUESTION 2: (2a) What is the major difference between, say, a CMC CD-R and a non-CMC CD-R? (2b) What are any other differences? Is it just shelf-life (and if so, any estimate of the longevity difference?); level of sensitivity to adverse environmental conditions such as humidity or temperature; or a noticeable, life-altering difference in sound quality, etc.? Thanks in advance. And thank you to the software author(s) for creating ImgBurn and providing it for free, so secretaries like myself can afford to use it. :0) ----Michael