CD Burning: What Route Should I Go?

I have no experience with CD burning and don't have a burner. I've gathered that some people feel you get best results from a dedicated outboard CD burner than from doing it on your computer. Pardon my computer illiteracy, but I have a Mac from 1998 with only CD-ROM. What would be the easiest route with the best sonic results for me to invest in a burner to make copies?

Are the sonics better from a direct burn than from storing the data on hard drive first?

My other concern would be the durability of the burner. A friend had excellent sonic results with a Philips burner, but the Philips didn't seem very durable, becoming sensitive to which blanks were used, and it finally died out after 3 years. Thanks for all opinions.