Shouldn't this be intuitive?

Jeff- are you using Audio CDRs? You can't use the computer data CDRs due to licensing/copyright issues. The used Pioneer CD recorder I bought here didn't work until I bought Audio CDRs. They have a special logo on them. Can't remember exactly what the logo says, but they are distinguishable. BTW, if you are just using the CDRs in your computer, you can copy audio onto them in a CD burner, but they probably won't work in most stereo type CDPs. The audio CDRs I've made on the Pioneer work just fine in my cars, discman, etc.

The phrase to look for is: Compact Disc "Digital Audio" Recordable. My Pioneer PDR-W839 only works with "DA" discs. I picked up the wrong blanks when I first tried the CDR (they did not say "Digital Audio" on them and would not read). I then followed up with a 30 pack of Memorex "DA's" that had a high failure rate (over 70%). At this point, due to lack of patience, I stopped playing with the CDR. My godson then brought over ten Maxell "DA" blanks, for his music, and made ten for ten perfect copies (the Maxell are not really highly regarded and I guess that it was just a good batch, as the Memorex was a bad batch). The next time I purchase a bulk pack, if they work, I will go back the next day and buy a slew of them for future use (hoping that they are the same). If you are using the right blanks and it still does not work, then have someone 14 years of age (or younger:-) show you how to operate the thing. I understand that most of the "brand name" CDR's all source their blanks from different factories, at different times, so you never know what you are getting until you try them and they work constantly. Good luck.

I own the CDR 880 single tray and it's great. Probably the responses focusing in on which blanks to purchase are correct. I use the Sony, Imation, Maxell and occasionally Fuji with very good results. They are correct, Memorex can't suck enough.

Thanks gents. The blanks I bought are: Memorex Music CD-R "Recordable Compact Discs for Home Audio Recorders and Computer Writers" 700mb, 80 minute, up to 16X speed. The other brand: Maxell CD-R Music for audio recording. 74 minutes. I had no luck, so my dad and brother tried too. Unless we're a family of idiots (quite possible BTW) then there's something wrong with this set-up. Did I buy the wrong brand of discs?

The disks I am using successfully are Sony CDR-Audio and under the compact disc logo they say digital audio. BTW, there is a pretty high failure rate on CDRs. Maybe you should try recording from another source to see if the record function works at all with the disks you have and they move on from there.

Jeff, Are you using "Dub" rather than "Record" (dub being for tray-to-tray recording as opposed to recording from an external cdp)? You might have to tell us what you _are_ doing that's not working, and what kind of feedback, if any, the readout display is giving you. I don't have a dual-well cdr, so am taking a wild guess. It must be something on that order, don't you think?