I didn’t know that Did you guys know that?

It does seem to me to be technically plausible that many of these reports could be true (and I would certainly expect Learsfool's perceptions to be accurate), although I would expect the magnitude and character of the differences to be highly dependent on the design of the particular player that is being used (and probably also on the particular media, burner, and burn speed that are used).

From this paper by Steve Nugent of Empirical Audio:

3. Jitter from the pits on a CD:
These are the pits in the CD media that represent the recorded data. Variation in the spacing of these pits result in jitter when reading the data. Commercially CD's created from a glass-master generally have more variation in the locations of the pits than a CD-R written at 1X speed on a good CD-R writer. Even though most modern CD players have buffering of the data to create some tolerance to this jitter, there is usually a PLL (Phase-locked-loop) involved, which is still somewhat susceptible to jitter. To determine if your player is susceptible, it is a simple experiment to re-write or "clone" a CD and then listen for playback differences from the commercial version. For newer players that completely buffer the data at high-speed from a CDROM reader to a memory buffer, this jitter is not an issue.

And some excerpts from this thread:

07-19-11: Shadorne
If a disc wobbles while it spins then this may cause cyclical adjustments to the pick up laser servo and these repetitive draws on power may induce variations in the clock through the power supply.

07-20-11: Kirkus
CD players, transports, and DACs are a menagerie of true mixed-signal design problems, and there are a lot of different noises sources living in close proximity with suceptible circuit nodes. One oft-overlooked source is crosstalk from the disc servomechanism into other parts of the machine . . . analog circuitry, S/PDIF transmitters, PLL clock, etc., which can be dependent on the condition of the disc.... One would be suprised at some of the nasty things that sometimes come up out of the noise floor when the focus and tracking servos suddenly have to work really hard to read the disc.

Best regards,
-- Al

10-24-11: Stanwal
Stereo Review?? I use to read that in the 60s and 70s; didn't it fold up years ago or have I slipped through a hole in the Space/Time continuum?

Hi Stan,

No, it never folded. Some years back it changed its name to "Sound & Vision Magazine," reflecting increased focus on home theatre, video, etc. And many years back it absorbed the subscription bases, and perhaps some of the assets, of "High Fidelity" and "Audio" magazines, when they ceased publication.

Best regards,
-- Al

10-24-11: Phaelon
Okay, if I download a CD using iTunes lossless and then transfer it to a quality CD-R like MAM-A gold archive, the CD-R should be at least as good and probably better?

Hi Tom,

I have no directly relevant experience, but from a technical standpoint I don't see any reason why that shouldn't be the case.

You may also want to give the much less expensive Taiyo Yuden CD-R's a try, specifically the ones indicated as being "for professional use." They offer a 100 year data guarantee, and in my experience (in non-audio applications) with both their DVD-R's and CD-R's, and according to many other reported experiences, things like failed burns, incompatibilities with burners and players, etc., virtually never occur. Taiyo Yuden is now part of JVC, and their media are often listed as "JVC/Taiyo Yuden."

Also, fwiw, my practice has been to burn at one-half of the speed rating of the media.

Best regards,
-- Al