you shouldn't see any quality differencr b/t a computer burner and a stand alone.
a problem w/ stand alone is that you need to use "audio" cdrs. these have a tiny bit of information on them that stand alone burners need to see in order to burn to the disc. audio cdrs are more expensive because they're taxed. this was the RIAAs attempt to get money for blank cdrs because they figure you will be copying commercially released cds (as oppesed to buying them) on stand alone burners. buying a PC burner will get around this.
pc burners are very reliable, at least from my experience. i have an HP cd writer, its about 4 years old, and it has burned about 3-4K+ cdrs and keeps on going. it was expensive back then, but they all were back then. it is still equivalent to todays burners save for the speed, but you dont want to burn audio at over 8X anyhow!
i have found that disc to disc copying introduces all kinds of artifacts. the only way to go is to transfer to hard drive first using EAC (exact audio copy) and burn from there. you will never have a problem... i havn't yet!
also, use quality cdrs. mitsui are usually considered the best, but they are pricey. Taiyo Yuden are fairly priced and are outstanding in quality. all the other cdrs people always recommend (such as TDK, sony, maxell) have all been made by different manufacturers of varying quality. they switch their supplier all the time. you can't expect any one manufacturer if you buy these brands anymore.
there is a wealth of information on the internet about cdrs, burners, audio extraction, and burning. here's a good place to get your feet wet. check out as many live music trading sites as you can... include that in your searches. we have a tendency to be very anal about quality and have found the best ways to produce perfect clones :)
http://www.etree.org/faq_cdr.html
good luck!
a problem w/ stand alone is that you need to use "audio" cdrs. these have a tiny bit of information on them that stand alone burners need to see in order to burn to the disc. audio cdrs are more expensive because they're taxed. this was the RIAAs attempt to get money for blank cdrs because they figure you will be copying commercially released cds (as oppesed to buying them) on stand alone burners. buying a PC burner will get around this.
pc burners are very reliable, at least from my experience. i have an HP cd writer, its about 4 years old, and it has burned about 3-4K+ cdrs and keeps on going. it was expensive back then, but they all were back then. it is still equivalent to todays burners save for the speed, but you dont want to burn audio at over 8X anyhow!
i have found that disc to disc copying introduces all kinds of artifacts. the only way to go is to transfer to hard drive first using EAC (exact audio copy) and burn from there. you will never have a problem... i havn't yet!
also, use quality cdrs. mitsui are usually considered the best, but they are pricey. Taiyo Yuden are fairly priced and are outstanding in quality. all the other cdrs people always recommend (such as TDK, sony, maxell) have all been made by different manufacturers of varying quality. they switch their supplier all the time. you can't expect any one manufacturer if you buy these brands anymore.
there is a wealth of information on the internet about cdrs, burners, audio extraction, and burning. here's a good place to get your feet wet. check out as many live music trading sites as you can... include that in your searches. we have a tendency to be very anal about quality and have found the best ways to produce perfect clones :)
http://www.etree.org/faq_cdr.html
good luck!