Philips CDR media question: “When we get the Philips CD recorders, are we basically stuck to using the proprietary CDRs? Are there other brands of discs (cheaper) that we can use instead? Why do the Philips units not accept the “normal” CDRs available in the market?”
The Philips unit is designed for the consumer market. CD recorders developed for the consumer (as opposed to pro) market are designed to work only with consumer blank media. Consumer blank media has an additional tax included in the price that makes it more expensive. This is detailed in the 10/15/98 and 10/21/98 issues of TTOTD. Depending upon which Philips machine you have there may be a workaround. On older machines it was possible to insert a consumer disc, let the machine recognize it as such, then manually open the door and sneak in a regular cheap disc. The machine would never realize it had a different disc inserted and would record as normal. Newer models have a software upgrade that has fixed this “problem.”