is CD-r still an "acceptable" format?

[shearling]

are you guys still seeing/releasing/purchasing cd-r releases? I ask because so much is being done with cassette and digital format now it seems....

[Leatherface]

CD-r is the worst format possible. Acceptable? Never.

[L.White]

better a good and well produced CDr than a shitty tape!

[vomitgore]

I guess the problem with CD-R is the short lifespan. It's not even about supposed cheapness or the fact that everyone can create one at home in 1-2 minutes, but the technical flaws. Total classics like some Strict or Atrax Morgue releases have just simply stopped working due to being "too old" and nothing more. As opposed to that, even tapes from the 80ies play just fine. So, my question is whether a CD-R is actually a real "music format" or just a temporary storage device  (however, it would lose when directly compared to a flash drive or external data storage). Of course, a pro CD-R may look neat and professional, but well...
Of course, every further aspect of the CD-R image are a result of this. Larger artists often don't agree to CD-R releases due to the negative connotations, just like a published author wouldn't agree to stapled together xerox copies of his newest work. Established labels often don't want the hassle with malfunctioning discs. Also, real CDs aren't that expensive to press anymore, which was different during the CD-R boom, if I am not mistaken. So, probably, the bad image just stems from peoples' contact with the format. I mostly see young "Bandcamp artists" selling CD-R, which makes sense in a way, but on the other hand, maybe digital sales would be just as high, if there were no physical alternative...?

[Euro Trash Bazooka]

I have CDRs that I burned when CD burners became available on computers like 20 years ago and they still play fine. I guess it's a matter of CD quality and burning process (who still burns CDs in 4x speed?) It is a good format to transfer data, including music, or trade files.
As a proper support for a release? No way. If you can take the time to make an odd and annoying cover that won't fit my shelves for your CDR you might as well take the time to dub it on tape.

[breidahl]

If you want to be retro and very '00s it is. That's how I think of a CD-R nowadays. Back then I didn't know that they didn't last forever and do therefore mostly associate them with that time and that music - and not great quality. I used to think they were smarter and better than tapes, but I guess they are not.

But if you don't want to lose the data on your old CD-R, what's the most damaging? Sunlight? Other electronic devices? Or just age?

[shearling]

these are all really thoughtful answers so thanks everyone for that. I feel like a cd-r would absolutely have to be kept very cheap if they were going to be sold and even then I feel I would personally have it as merely a component to a larger art piece ie a zine or something. Making it available digitally in addition to the cd-r could perhaps be a solution to the loss/temporary aspect. They DO carry a certain early-00s vibe, but who knows that may be in style in a few years haha. Thanks for the response, keeps the insights coming!

[Duncan]

Well, be careful what kind of decade and nostalgia you're pinning to them if you want to avoid being part of the PROBLEM that afflicts modern day attitudes to tapes.  Maybe cd-r will have a massive resurgence in 2030 and be considered a cool, retro product if you aren't careful. WATCH IT

I have no problem with the format at all given I'm not being charged a stupid amount for one. I've mentioned elsewhere that I think it's an inferior format for reissuing material that might as well be put on a proper CD but I also reckon cd-r's value as a quick, homemade, cheap, non commercial object for music/art presentation has become massively overlooked by a noise scene which has in more recent years become consumed with ideas of professionalism.

The short answer is the easy one: it has its place within the plethora of other formats that music will find its way onto.

[Zeno Marx]

might be a thread of interest to you:
http://www.special-interests.net/forum/index.php?topic=7394.0

Considering price (both to make and retail), blank quality, and burning know-how, they're a fine medium.  Other than an artifact trinket, I don't understand why someone wouldn't just set up a bandcamp page or the like.  Skip the potential quality curve all together.

[holy ghost]

It'd be a colossal pain in my arse in 2017 to get a CDR. I don't have a CD player hooked up any more and half the time they've been spray painted so I don't want to stick them in my laptop. I have a couple of shoe boxes in my basement filled with CDrs. Frankly I hve zero interest in adding any more CDRs to those boxes. I keep them in a cedar closet so I bet they smell like cedar now.

I love the idea that it could be considered "retro".

[Zeno Marx]

It'd be a colossal pain in my arse in 2017 to get a CDR. I don't have a CD player hooked up any more and half the time they've been spray painted so I don't want to stick them in my laptop.

As an aside, this concerns me.  I have a lot of my collection backed up on data DVDrs, and I've been delaying transferring those to hard drives.  I won't get the last laugh.

[holy ghost]

It'd be a colossal pain in my arse in 2017 to get a CDR. I don't have a CD player hooked up any more and half the time they've been spray painted so I don't want to stick them in my laptop.

As an aside, this concerns me.  I have a lot of my collection backed up on data DVDrs, and I've been delaying transferring those to hard drives.  I won't get the last laugh.

I have no interest in "clouds" or "drives" at this point but I would be interested in the day you can access say, 500GB or 1TB of space for music for free, away from your computer. I have two drives I sporadically back up - not often enough I feel though. I would love to have the knowledge that I won't loose any data if my wife's aging laptop dies. Maybe this exists? I'm honestly not looking that hard. But a "cloud" backup would be reassuring. I mean shit, my email is basically my backup for anything I want to actually save.

[Andrew McIntosh]

as we're increasingly moving towards a digital future

It is the simplest of matters in our digital present to rip music from a cdr and just have it on drive, which of course is backed up except by total morons. As for future possibilities that's only worth dealing with when and if they happen. If we've got something that works nicely and simply right now, use it until something better comes along.

And as for releasing music digitally, unless you're putting in the serious money to get a decent cd release with all the bullshit extras, just upload it to fucking Bandcamp already! If you're going to put out a cdr it would want to have some very serious physical enticements along with it, like a sex robot or an original Picasso or fifty kilograms of prime marijuana or something. If all you're doing is producing fifty to a hundred copies of something with a simple cover, you are an idiot. There's Bandcamp, there's Soundcloud - shit, you could put the money you invest in a cd and have your own fucking web space to upload sound to.

The only thing that's going to stand out is whether the music/noise is any good or not. The great thing about putting it online is what an equaliser it is. You can't rely on format, fancy packaging, limited editions, all that bullshit. In fact there's no guarantee that anyone will notice at all (and in this scene plenty of opportunity for it to be consciously ignored, more than once I've read guff along the lines of "do not send online links, we only review physical formats, oh except for cdrs because that says the artist isn't serious" for example).

[monotome]

EDIT: JUST DO A RUN, IF IT DOESNT WORK OUT THEN MOVE TO SOMETHING ELSE.

[Theodore]

Re: Preservation: Play any 30 years old tape or vinyl, you will listen the sound, "data" will be preserved for the most part. No need for back-up. CD will probably play too. If not, you totally lost it though. CDR ? Maybe 10-20 % of them will work. HDD ? Haha ! So the digital present requires you to do back-ups of the back-ups, all the time, just in case, cause you never know, or better ... cause you know ! They will fail.

I doubt if old recordings were not recorded on tape, would be still "alive" , for many various reasons.