Several times in the past 6 months, I've had to make reference to a series of phantom emails from somebody claiming to be a Lead Data employee, often given strange information that I could never corroborate. She wrote from an @juno.com free email account, from an IP that originated in the USA. She also accidentally included her signature in one email, which included a Las Vegas cell phone number.
Here are three emails from the beginning of the conversation. From what I remember (which was more than two years ago), I sent one more reply, which was then replied to by her with something rude and mostly in ALL CAPS.
Through the years we've gotten a lot of crap emails like this, whether it's somebody that insists all DVDs are burned (including retail discs), or that a CD burner can burn DVDs with the "right firmware".
For the sake of posterity and curiosity, here are those emails...
Quote:
-----Original Message-----
Sent: Tuesday, April 01, 2008 11:16 AM
Subject: digitalFAQ.com Question
I know you guys are tying very hard, yet you have many untruths on your site. One cannot always tell the manufacturer by what is on the wobble groove or media ID. Clear example is Sony. All Sony is outsourced. Main manufacturer is lead Data. Sony created a master, with their name on the wobble groove, which in turn they gave to Lead Datta to use for production. PIO Data is not necessarily a
Cherryll Cates
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Given the amount of research, spread out over a period of about 15 years of experience and logging data, it gets irksome when some random nobody writes in with statements that we have "many untruths" on the site. That's just not accurate.
This is another example of a person wanting to squabble over the definition of "outsourced". Consider the differences:
- When Company A pays Company B to make a product to Company A specs, it's still a Company A product.
- When Company A buys a product from Company B, and simply re-brands it, it's a Company B product with a Company A sticker.
While both are technically "outsourced" products, you cannot lump those together. That's a huge mistake when discussing the disc manufacturing industry.
It was also well known at the time that all Sony media was being produced by the two Daxon plants, and not Lead Data.
"Their name in the wobble groove" is something I had never heard of before, or since. The wobble groove does not contain manufacturing information that I am aware of. The ID is part of the pre-groove, where the drive gets information to pick the correct strategy for burning the media. While it does have a wobble that a disc uses for calibration, the "wobble groove" is the area where data is burned and runs the length of the disc, in a spiral. I have seen various definitions of "wobble groove" in more recent years, so I may have to allow both uses.
I address some of this, as you'll see.
And yes, her original email just sort of stopped mid-sentence. Beats me...
Notice the date? I almost didn't reply to it, figuring it was some insane BS prank. But as you'll see shortly, that wasn't the case. This person was serious. Or at least pretended to be for several more days.
Next email... My reply...
Quote:
-----Original Message-----
From: digitalFAQ.com
Subject: RE: digitalFAQ.com Question
Sorry, but your information is not correct.
Daxon (not LeadData) oversees Sony's manufacturing for them. While Daxon may have a role in the creation of the media, it is manufactured specifically for Sony to their specs. Therefore, it's Sony media. Most all of it ends up under a Sony brand label, with the exception of what may be undergrade/overstock media sold under no-name brands (Fry's GQ is one).
Daxon also has it's own media, with it's own media ID, under it's own brand (and other no-name brands). But it's not the same as Sony media.
A number of companies have second-rate operations help them. Mitsubishi has contracts with CMC, MBI and Prodisc. CMC's own media is awful, but the MCC discs they make to MCC's specs are stellar. Therefore, those are MCC-manufactured discs.
If you know the media ID...
If you know the brand...
And you know the reputable nature of the store...
Then there's no doubt who manufactured the media.
Shady stores, no-names brands, and fishy-looking IDs can be tricky, but only to the very-untrained eye. People are suspicious by nature, so "Al's Great Media" sold on a street corner for $3 per 50-pack will not be authentic high-grade media. Even sold-in-stores junk (Windata, from Microcenter) is very dubious, and only a fool would think it's legit TY media inside.
I don't even think LeadData makes DVDs anymore. They were big in the 1x-2x days, but it slowly died away with 4x and 8x. It's been so long that I don't even remember if Sony used LeadData, but it would have been the 2x days, as Daxon has been here for the 4x-8x-16x media.
"Wobble groove" is not a term that describes anything I've ever heard of in relation to ID information.
Remember the goal of the guide is to review media and help others choose good discs. Right now, that means buying Verbatim or Taiyo Yuden only. Anything else is a roll of the dice, and a likely waste of time and money.
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At the time, it was not yet apparent that the GQ media was either fake or LD, and likely not Daxon. Again, it's been a few years, so I don't recall all the details anymore.
My email was met by another reply...
Quote:
-----Original Message-----
I worked for Lead Data. Went to Taiwan and saw Sony stampers and the manufacturing of it's product. 80% of what Lead Data makes is for Sony. Until just recently Sony's product was kitted up for shipment to (outlaying areas)in Cerritos Since then Sony has moved the kitting operation to Texas. Yes Sony supplies the Stampers to Lead Data, yet that doesn't make them a manufacturer.
I am familar with Daxon, they might do some OEM work in the DVD area for Sony.
Pio Data had Pioneers blessing to a large degree. It was actually put out by a company in Taiwan that was the largest drive mover (for Pioneer) in Taiwan. Originally they contracted Lead Data to OEM the product. Unfortunately they got greedy and purchased B and C grade product (it was supposed to be for China only) Somehow they didn't send it to China and ended up the the states. Meritline took a big hit. After that fiasco they then contracted out to Ritek .
Wobble groove is not a made up term. talk to anyone who knows media and how it is manufacured. Call Cats, Dr Shank or the folks a Datirus. Read Pohlmann's 2nd edition The Compact Disc Handbook. Check out website www.lightbyte.com. Owner of this sight also received inquiry concerning your page, just as I did
Warmest Regards
Cherryll Cates
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Consider these facts:
- It's well known that Sony was using Daxon at the time.
- Sony never made blank DVDs in California (or Mexico).
- Sony never made blank DVDs in Texas.
- If you make the stamper, supply the specs, etc -- it's their media by design. While some other grunt was hired to run the machines, the media was completely a Sony product. Again best, this is somebody trying to argue over the definition of "outsourcing". At worst, it's a manufacturer trying to take credit for a media that is not really theirs by design.
- PioData claimed to have a blank DVD relationship with Pioneer, but that was not the case. If I remember correctly, it was an alluded relationship, not a specified one, and thus created a loophole for legality. I don't know what all this "blessing" non-sense is, as Pioneer had already vacated the blank DVD manufacturing business by that point in time. Sadly, PVC was dead, as one of the first quality manufacturers to have folded back in 2003 or 2004.
- PioData media was always LeadData crap, and never anything else, from all information I have seen. Any other IDs used for media under that brand was probably fake (TYG02, for example, a commonly faked Taiyo Yuden code).
- PioData re-badged the Pioneer 108 burner. This was their only known "relationship" to Pioneer in any way.
- A common myth of the time was that the market had all these various grades of blank DVDs that sneaked into stores, with the intended client being China. While there was certainly some truth to the information, it was often presented in a very distorted form, commonly used by consumers guessing in forums. People who actually knew anything about media hated that whole topic, because it took an essay to sort back out again in a truthful manner.
- Meritline taking a hit? Never saw it. I asked somebody I knew there at the time, and this was dismissed as inaccurate.
I also wasn't impressed by the lack of command of good grammar, spelling and high density of typos. Between this, and all the inaccuracies and oddities, plus rude attitude in final email, it was difficult to take this series of emails seriously.
Googling the person in question showed that she claimed to be a sales rep for LD in one place, not a tech of any kind --
translation: minimal tech knowledge is required for most sales reps, or even anything beyond high school education for that matter -- and claimed location in both California and Florida almost concurrently.
Again, we've gotten some weird BS through the years.
