Review on 🚫 TDK16x DVD+R Lightscribe 30 Pack Spindle: Unavailable due to Discontinuation by Mark Harris

EVALUATION AND COST COMPARISON I bought two TDK Lightscribe 16x DVD spindles: 10 pack for $7.90 and 30 pack for $18.25. Both were covered by Prime shipping and arrived about three days after ordering. TDK products experienced a brief delay as they were not available from Revain stock. TDK has long had an excellent reputation for manufacturing quality media products. For the last few years I have used HP and Verbatim Lightscribe products. I also ordered a 15 pack of HP Lightscribe 16x DVDs for $15 with Prime shipping. Larger quantities of HP media are available at a lower cost per disc; However, discontinued TDK media are significantly more economical. PERFORMANCE In my experience there is no noticeable difference between the image quality of Lightscribe on TDK, HP and Verbatim media. Verbatim media is harder to find and usually much more expensive than other brands. I've been using the free Lightscribe recording software pictured for almost a decade. The first photo illustrates how this program works with the TDK media. The second photo is the resulting DVD labeled TDK Lightscribe 16x; The image is slightly blurry, as you can see from the keyboard in the background. This particular DVD was recorded a second time with the "Best" setting in the free Lightscribe software. The resulting image was only slightly darker than the original firing. Be that as it may, TDK media, like HP media, offers multiple burns for darker images. In this case I removed the media from the HP Lightscribe Writer before burning the second label. Data collection also went without incident; Three 16x DVDs were burned using PowerISO with verification enabled. A subsequent check of the quality of the recorded media showed correct recording. CONCLUSION It's really a shame that the manufacturer has discontinued the TDK Lightscribe 16x DVDs. In my experience they work just as well as the more expensive HP and Verbatim media. By the way: Do not use paper labels when labeling. Conventional adhesives corrode the plastic coating of the disc after a few years and destroy the data. As someone who teaches computer forensics at a public university, I make it my mission to study these phenomena. If you don't use paper labels, avoid prolonged exposure to the sun, and store in a cool, dry place, most DVDs should reliably store data for well over ten years.