No safe media anymore...

[AlecWest]

If you visit the NoMoreCoaster.com site and look at the "1st Class Media" category, you'll notice that three out of the four brands currently made have a proviso attached - be aware of fakes. Since I couldn't find Taiyo Yuden discs locally, my most recent purchase was of Maxell (MXLR_G02) discs ... and they all seem to be working fine. But, I recently read this article in Business Week magazine, discussing the global problem of merchandise counterfeiting.

It's really depressing. How easy is it for a manufacturer to counterfeit a media ID by which a DVD can be recognized? And if that's easy, it must be incredibly easy to print up a box to read MADE IN JAPAN (even though the product may really be made in Sri Lanka).

The bottom line seems to be that buying media is a crap-shoot ... unless, perhaps, you buy directly from the source manufacturer. Then again, I suppose manufacturers themselves could be corrupted for the right price. Terrible state of affairs.

[Bodyslide]

Good Article. Yes, I get most of my Media from www.rima.com. TY's are the way togo.

[samijubal]

Never had any problems with Rima here, I get almost all of my discs there too.

[steve2713]

Fakes have been around for quite awhile, really. Some of the first discs I ever bought were Sky brand 1x and 2x -Rs, they have the media code MXL RG01, and they are certainly not real MXL media. But I knew what I was getting, considering the price and retailer (The discs are actually decent, I rarely have had any coasters from these discs, incredibly).

We're still at a point where it is obvious when buying from the major online retailers whether what you buy is real or fake, in terms of media and media codes. The stuff that has had fake TY media codes lately is priced significantly lower than any real TY media, and they are not advertising it as TY media - Linkyo and Sonic are two brands off the top of my head that use some TY media codes.

I've yet to hear of fake media being ADVERTISED and packaged as the real thing being an issue in the U.S., although I'm sure there are issues with this in some Asian countries. Hopefully this never becomes a real issue in the U.S., at least up to this point if you buy from a respected retailer you shouldn't get burned by any fake media being advertised as the real thing. It does suck for the few nieve people that know just enough to check their discs for a media code, but not wise enough to realize it is simply a fake media code. That is one bad thing about a fake media code, but using fake media codes allows media that would otherwise be limited in burn speed to often burn at much faster speeds, which so many people seem to be obsessed with.

[Regal]

China and other import areas need to be cracked down. I read another article in Business Journal, showing that manufactures selling Honda bikes, that are fakes and cost about 300.00 or less. It's sad. hey looks like everyone just looking to make a BUCK A bad BUCK!!