I recently sold my CD-1 after 13 years of highly reliable use. During that time the only problem I had was with burned CD's. Some brands (e.g. Blue face HP CDR 52x 700MB data,) would not play at all after being properly burned. My experience with SOME Verbatim CDR's was similar to yours regardless of color. My solution was was to use Mitsui (or Taiyo Yuden) Silver Thermal CDR's exclusively. I have NEVER had a problem with the CD-1 reading or playing those discs.
I would try burning to one of these discs and see if the problem goes away. If so, easy solution and no questionable need for repair! The only other problem I can think of might lie in either the burning software you are using or the actual CD burner disc drive (assuming the use of a PC for this purpose). I had some sporadic problems with burning but they all went away when I used Easy CD Creator software and a Plextor drive. BTW, I really loved that Anthem!
I would try burning to one of these discs and see if the problem goes away. If so, easy solution and no questionable need for repair! The only other problem I can think of might lie in either the burning software you are using or the actual CD burner disc drive (assuming the use of a PC for this purpose). I had some sporadic problems with burning but they all went away when I used Easy CD Creator software and a Plextor drive. BTW, I really loved that Anthem!