Very good tips, nihil.

I've certainly had problems with cheap CDs and by paying a little more, I have the peace of mind that they're reliable and last longer. I've also been frustrated by seeing an apparantly empty CD to have the contents show up quite happily on a different PC.

I know that CD and DVD writing has been around for a while for the home user (as I am). I just hope that all interested parties (i.e. CD/DVD writer and media manufacturers, as well as the software producers) would get together and agree on a "formula" that is common so we (as end users) could be sure that everything is fully compatible.

Maybe I should have put this on my Christmas "wish" list!