Points to consider

We recommend purchasing 1-12x compatible media or greater when possible. In the past, we frequently used slower-grade media at above the recommended recording speeds, but the extra insurance of properly rated media now comes at little or no additional cost.

Protective coatings for CD-Rs are the additional layers on label side of a CD (i.e. Kodak's InfoGuard.) As it turns out, the data stored on a CD-R resides under a very thin protective coating on the top of the CD. While a scratch on the bottom, or read side, of a CD-R can affect playback performance, the data itself usually remains intact. Scratch the label side of a CD-R and you risk damaging the sensitive reflective layer required to read the disc.

If you want to write on the outside of your CD-R, be sure to purchase blank media with a good top coating. Cheap CD-Rs with very thin protective coatings have been known to allow the ink from a marker to seep into the reflective layer, altering its characteristics and rendering the disc unreadable.