There are a lot of information about CDR/RW on the Net.
You might read such magazines as "Chip", "PC-World" etc.
They regularly publish articles about CDR/RW technology,
make comparative tests of CDR/RW devices.

 Mike.

Mike Mansheim wrote:
> I've just finally gotten a CD-RW recorder, and have been experimenting
> with reading the burned CD's (both R & RW) in other drives.  In both
> of
> the other drives I have available to check, I can eventually read the
> CD's, but not right away.  The drives are "not ready" for varying
> amounts
> of time.  It sounds almost as though they have to "spool up" before
> they
> can be read.  When the CD is inserted, the drives make noise, even
> though
> there is no auto-start stuff on them (just files).  The whole process
> doesn't seem very reliable.
> - Is there a way to "tickle" the drives to get them up to speed before
>   trying to access them, if that is the problem?
> - What is different about "regular" cd's that they don't exhibit this?
>   (I can always access them right away).
>
> Thanks for any light anyone can shed!
>

--
http://www.piclist.com hint: The PICList is archived three different
ways.  See http://www.piclist.com/#archives for details.