The problem, i believe, is not the read step, but the write step. I
think that there is lots of read/write error checking that occurs
between source & speakers, and I don't have to worry about it.
I've got a long history of chasing deteriorating CDR burns, and some
with DVD burns. The initial burn is good, the verification is good,
but the disk starts to have errors after a period of time - 6 months,
a year, two years, whatever.
This is a well-documented effect now, and I was one of the early
"alarmists" on this.
I have quite an assortment of CDRs made over the years, on a wide
variety of media and burners, that were unreadable until I got my
current DVD reader (LiteOn 163). These same disks are unreadable on
my various Plextors, NECs, Teacs, etc.
While the initial write conditions are critical (medium, burner, and
speed), the ability to read disks that have problems is important to
some of us.
How does your reader error rate manifest itself?
Failed reads and slow reads, getting worse at the outside of the disk.
What i need to know is that my digital source file was written, with
great accuracy, to the target. So enters "different brands of burn
media".
A post-burn compare will accomplish much of this, of course, but will
not tell you how your media will hold up over the next X years
(whatever's important to you).
There's really no way to test this except to wait. Lifetime testing
has serious flaws when extrapolated to real-world results, and dye and
reflective layer formulas are constantly changing on OEM disks. I'm
sure you're aware that brand names mean absolutely nothing.
I see some correlation between brands that fail compare after a
full-speed burn and brands that deteriorate sooner, but it's not super
strong, as many brands considered good back in the day are in my
unreadable pile.
My current best results come from media I've tested on my specific
systems, burned at half the max burner speed, and verified after burn.
This isn't a guarantee, but it has improved the odds a good bit for
me.
And the ability to test the output.
duh
If it's important to you, you should think about recopying regularly,
or re-verifying to see how the data integrity is holding up.
We all make our tradeoffs between risk and effort, of course. YMMV,
as always.
max