I think I'll mail them because this is really suspicious
I already did mail them once and they said that they're using the new cakeboxes because the "quality" would be better...

I wonder when Platinum will build a packaging plant in Japan to claim MIJ.. just stay away from that media

Thank you, Arachne. I've been buying this stuff since a cardboard box with 25 shrinkwrapped 2x CD-R's inside cost more than the drive (and the drive cost 1/2 as much as the computer). I still have that cardboard box stuck in my head as "cakebox".

Maxell MIJ CD-Rs are all TY. I havent seen any Maxell made MIJ CD-Rs in the last 4 years.
Other Japanese makers producing in Japan are Unifino, Sony and Kitano. But these companies only make DVDs.

Congrats for the FAQ, kg_evilboy.
I made the thread sticky... and edited your FAQ with links to threads containing additional information such as pictures showing serials, and the good old sticky about fake TYs (I'm surprised that you didn't link to it yourself, BTW ).

Actually there are too many stickies in this section for my taste, now.
I'm thinking about having new sub-sections for specific mediamakers (at least for the main ones, like Maxell, MCC, TDK -*rip*?..), just like with DVD burners in the Optical drives section. Will check that with the admins.

Good job at stickying this Francksoy!

There sure are alot of stickies in this forum!

I have noticed that alot of them are links to articles and reviews.

While these are all top notch material, how about limiting the time they are stickies to save on clutter?

For example when a new article/review relevant to Blank Media is written Sticky it for a month then move it to a "Useful Articles/Reviews" sub forum.

It would be very complicated to have seperate forums for even a select few manufacturers IMHO.

Sorry if this is a bit off topic

Ditto, I too remember those days. It wasn't until I met a guy from the US that I heard the term "cakebox" or "cake"...we just call them spindles here.

Nice one for Sticky-ing this, Franck...now none of us will have to search through the forums to link to it.

And agreed, there sure are a lot of Stickies ...Kim's suggestion sounds good though?

I'm still considering several options and I have to discuss them with the "hierarchy" . Thanks for the suggestions.

awesome the bits about the 3 number sets in the ring and peach smell was most informative.

Some more pictures would be great

Would like to see pics of the TY hub center and outher serial marked areas.

"O yeah if any of you guys have a smellyvision camera post a pic of the peach smell that would really be cool" LOL

Thanks i.a.

If you take a good look at the FAQ, you'll find two links to a thread where you can see such images.
*edit* only one link actually... er... ahem..

About the smell: My own TYG02 don't smell like peaches. I'd rather call that anised sand for birdcages. *LOL* - and my T02 have a totally unidentifiable, very faint fragrance.

If you could remember there was a smelly thread, maybe you add this link to the FAQ's as "How to smell if you've real Taiyo Yuden".

That would be the thread:
http://club.cdfreaks.com/showthread.php?t=170680&page=2
Starting post #34

Yeah, exactly that!

While I was photographing my YUDEN000 T03 DVD+R sold as TDK 16x DVD+R, I noticed that the spacer disc at the top (which is TDK tradition) has a visible GH code...

Anyway, here are the photos of the codes.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/48845405@N00/140376073/ (YUDEN000 T03 DVD+R)
http://www.flickr.com/photos/48845405@N00/140379129/ (Taiyo Yuden Co. Ltd. CD-R)
I will post photos of Maxell-branded Color Disc YUDEN000 T01 and Fuji-branded YUDEN000 T02 later.

I'm terribly sorry that I forgot that the CD media actually has two codes. My Verbatim Pastel disc has 4L561A0262180 in the frosted hub and 80 PG1239 near the hub.

Many webshops should have photos of the packaging, they're not hard to find.
Verbatim Europe 8x DVD-R (TYG02) 25 pcs cakebox
Verbatim Europe 8x DVD+R Pastel Disc 5 pcs slimcases
Verbatim Europe 48x Pastel Disc 50 pcs cakebox
Verbatim Europe 48x Pastel Disc 20 pcs slimcases
I will post a few photos of packaging too.

Oh no, not the "sniffing discs" thread. I have a feeling that will go down in Blank Media Forum history

And no, I still haven't been tempted to see what my TYs smell like

My 16x +R MCCs made by MBI really do smell like vanilla though ^^

My Verbatim T03's smell like pear-drops.

Also my Plextor TYG03's smell like wee. But thats another story...

@kg_evilboy
All the TY discs I have bought on a spindle contained a XX012345 format code spacer top and bottom.

I have noticed that the code on the spacer doesn't always match the code of the actual media either:

Eg the spacer disc in the TYG03's is coded GG000158, and in the T02's GH000125.

If this thread is going to be useful in the future - and it should since it's a FAQ and because it's sticky - could be we please stop this discussion about smelly discs or move it to another thread?! Thanks!

I'm sorry for impersonating a moderator and acting like a spoilsport.

I agree. I hit the reply when I knocked the mouse of my desk. I have now included more relevant information.

The info could be useful to the visually impared however.

I always thought it was standard practice to include "half disc" spacers in all TY cakes/shrinkwrap?

Not a bad idea ...but hey, even myself and Franck mentioned disc fragrance

I imagine Franck will do what he needs to do with the posts about smelly discs...

Edited for relevance: I can take pics of some of my own TY media, if links to images, or images themselves, aren't posted for the same media.

The Fujis which I bought didn't, but they came in a normal box with gray base.
The Verbatim Pastel Disc CD-R didn't either.

Now here are some more photos:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/48845405@N00/140421844/ YUDEN000 T01 DVD+R with codes, albeit unreadable (this time it's TS...).
http://www.flickr.com/photos/48845405@N00/140415730/ YUDEN000 T02 DVD+R with codes.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/48845405@N00/140415731/ The Fuji cakebox which came with the YUDEN000 T02s.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/48845405@N00/140415732/ The TDK cakebox which came with the YUDEN000 T03s I already posted earlier.
Sadly, I have already thrown away the Maxell shrinkwrap from the YUDEN000 T01 discs and I don't have another package, I only have five of those...

I just thought, I think I've thrown away most of my disc packaging too

However, I do still have a cardboard box full of Maxell-branded YUDEN000 T01s. If anyone wants a pic, let me know.

Let me know too what you need a pic of - the disc serial/batch number, and/or the packaging.

That would figure. I have only bought branded TY in That's style cakeboxes and OEM TYG02 in 100PC That's cakeboxes.
I have never used any TY CD-R so i wouldn't know. I imagine the serial would be different but the That's cakebox would be the same as for some DVD media?

Do you think the lack of spacers in the Fuji and generic cakeboxes means Fuji brand and pacK their own media?

The most available TY Cdr's at least here in europe are comin in a bulk form it means only the shrinkwrap no cakebox. But the Verbatim Pastels are usin the typical TY cakebox like for the dvd media.

Should be the same for Plextors too.
Not necessarily, since most TYs in generic cakeboxes (Verbatim 8x DVD-R TYG02, Fuji 8x DVD+R YUDEN000 T02 which came with styrofoam ring) had a gray base and the Pastels which come in That's cakeboxes don't have spacer discs (and also no spacer foam rings) either. TDK 16x DVD+R had no printed shrinkwrap but a paper cylinder inside the cakebox and transparent shrinkwrap. TY is just very flexible with packaging, I think. Of course it could also be that Fuji bought the discs as bulk ware, printed them and had them relabeled or repacked.

Gray base + MIJ = most likely TY.