No problem, thanks Seth.

I have also made an inquiry with Verbatim, I'll post their answer too as soon as I get a response.

UPDATE:

Verbatim actually called me and we had a short converstaion, I took notes...and here is their response:  Taiyo Yuden does not manufacture the Verbatim brand, they are manufactured using their own high quality process.

They use the highest standards for all of their products, but some of their products cost more because they are used for mass production and require a more expensive process.  These are designed to meet the needs of software developers and producers, and are used to make master discs that will be used to produce a high volume of duplicates.  It is not necessary to use these products for photography archiving.

All of their products have a 100 year Archiving Life.

well, basically, that is all I could get from them.

UPDATE #2
After a little browsing around, I found this...but it contradicts what the Verbatim Rep told me: (from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Verbatim_Corporation)


Those products are partly produced in Verbatim/Mitsubishi's own plants in Singapore and Japan, and partly under license by Taiwanese and Indian manufacturers.

Verbatim also resells relabeled products from Japanese, Taiwanese, Mainland Chinese, Malaysian and Indian factories (Pearl White DVD series in Europe, some CD-R not labeled Super Azo), including but not limited to products by Taiyo Yuden, Ritek Corporation, CMC Magnetics, Prodisc, Moser Baer, Daxon/BenQ.