I received some CD-RW (that’s Read/Write by the way) blank discs because I ran out of my standard CD-R’s and needed to burn some traditional audio CDs (yes, some people still do this). These happened to be Memorex CD-RWs.
I pop in the disc and no matter what burner program I use (Nero, WinAMP, etc.), the maximum write speed is 4x. I’m not kidding. 4x.
To give you an indication of how slow that is, if you push a full CD of music (traditional audio, not MP3 files), it takes close to 30 minutes for the job to complete.
I was informed that the discs were bought in a 50-pack bulk and they were dirt cheap. Well, yeah, now I know why they were so cheap. 4x max write? Jeez!
To note: CD-RW discs typically do have slower max-write speeds, but I was expecting 10x for a RW, not 4x. Yes, 10x is still dirt slow but at least tolerable (somewhat).
Earlier today I bought a 30-pack of good ol’ Memorex CD-Rs. Those have a max-write speed of 40x.
Much better. 
The moral of this story: Watch yourself when you buy those big 50-packs of optical media. If the maximum write speed is slow, all the savings are gone in wasted time waiting for the @#*&! disc to finish a write.
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All the CD-RW I’ve been using were and are 4x, ALL of them. I didn’t know 10X RW disc even existed.
Yep. There’s 12x versions also (kinda pricey though).
On the flip side, burning at a slower speed (while truly a pain in the ass) provides better quality burning in the end.
This is especially true when it comes to DVD’s.
Slower = Best.
I have a Maxell 12X High Speed CD-RW and Verbatim 12X-24X UltraSpeed CD-RW dude check your hardware does your drive have at least a High Speed or Ultra Speed label on the compact disc rewritable logo?
by the way 12X and up to 24X aren’t pricey they about $2 each here in Canada and less for bundled or spindle pack
Dude, do you really think a ‘tech guy’ who writes for a ‘tech site’ wouldn’t have known the write speed of his own burner before wasting time to type the post up?
Seriously….
“… CD-RW (that’s Read/Write by the way)”. I thought it meant “Re-writeable”.
The technical and accurate name for CD-RW is Compact Disc ReWritable. I say it as read/write because people seem to understand that better. If I start explaining Compact Disc-Recordable as a WORM (Write Once Read Many) optical medium compared to CD-RW which isn’t, people get totally confused, so I stick with read/write.
I have almost the opposite problem to you.
I am desparately trying to make excellent quality Audio CDRs and the trouble is that most new burners have 16x or greater burn speed and it cannot be reduced lower. I have tried three different new burners and 4 different types of media. Its almost like someone is trying to stop people burning audio CDRs anymore.
Ask most people and they think the write speed is controlled by the burning software application e.g. Nero, not so, the software only allows you to choose from what the burner tells it is available.
I have found through research that burning audio CDRs (not to be confused with MP3s which are data CDRs) at speeds greater than 4x introduces errors which can take the form of noise, bad stereo balance/levels etc. this commonly means that if you try to play the CDR on portable CD players or in the car that you experience playing quality issues.
There are two problems getting reliable results today:
1) Finding a burner which can burn at 4x on CDR media.
2) Finding CDR media which will accept 4x burning.
Everyone is so worried about speed, nobody worries about high quality recordings. I feel they are missing the point. MP3 has done the world a great dis-service, regardless of how convienient it is.
Burning high quality audio CDRs is made harder because there is no automatic verification available which works, you have to listen to the recording on a number of different players due to its analog nature, although if you can burn at 4x you do get consistent results.
Next time your in the store, try finding out the slowest speed the burner will record audio CDRs and you’ll see that manufacturers don’t even advertise this fact. You have to call their tech support to find out.
Why is nobody in the press picking up on this development?
Does nobody want high quality audio CDRs anymore?
Surely I’m not the only one