Buying Bulk DVDs for Long Term Storage and Distribution

[FastTadpole]

Being information junkies, packrats and sharers I figured the forum was due for at least a half ass thread on DVD storage.

I also had a question to pose and put my best answer forward -- If one were to order 500+ DVDs where is the best place to get them from?

Because of shipping and taxes it varies for each country but I found a good site that I can get them (from Canada) for as low as 11 cents which is great for mass distros at the street corner or gathering places and events like Earth Day, Health shows, Universities and political / activist events. Right now 20 cents per disk is the best offer - let me (us) know if you can find anything cheaper.

For longer term storage you'd want to get the best value in weighing price with longevity and resistance or double back up or get an HD. DVDs are great for lending out but indexing them is required for large collections. I'd recommend making your own database or you could get a program like Movie Collector Pro - really easy to use but the export feature is far lacking and the dataset isn't fully customizable although it is very robust. They have other org things for books and mp3s too but a good directory structure is best I find.

The most comprehensive quality guide I've seen on the net, it's getting updated now with more recent data after resting on some well deserved laurels.
http://www.digitalfaq.com/reviews/dvd-media.htm

This thread explains R- and R+ pretty decently and provides some links to some articles.
http://club.myce.com/f33/difference-between-dvd-r-dvd-r-103718/

[solar]

You're the best, FastTadpole !!

I've been wondering about this for the last several weeks.

One, I've been looking into upgrading a very, very "older than Santa Claus" personal computer to effectively and rapidly burn DVDs.

Two, I've been interested in DVD quality and "degradation" issues. The Digital FAQ site looks awesome.

Thanks, again, for initiating a very useful thread for the ConCen "information warriors"!

[Nokturnal]

If you can find a distributor, then we can purchase the DVD's altogether in bulk to get a better price. I know that's what some car forums do for aftermarket parts.