Well,
I'm not exactly sure what you mean, but I don't know of more than one model of 788.
The 788's matched CDR gives many advantages to the 788. It is very useful to have, 'cause it gives you more flexibility of mixing and mastering all in the digital domain. Record onto the 788 in all-digital, then master and burn your songs directly to CD. Presto.
BTW, the 788 has total record time of [I think] 1 hour and 45 minutes. When the disc is full of songs, what are you going to want to do?
With the CDR, you can dump all the 8-track data to CD, [clearing the hard disc for more recording], and go back later and reload, and continue on the same project in 8 track format.
If you don't have the CDR, you can't do that. You'll have to make a "final" stereo remix, through analog stereo outputs, or spdif to a standalone CDR burner, and that's that. Then, when the 788's disc is full, you'll need to permanently erase all your primary 8 track data, and start all over, recording more material.
The CDR allows you to dump all your digital song data out of the 788, with the capability to preserve and reload the entire project, preserving the 8-track multitrack format.
There's NO off-loading song data from the 788's hard disc, then going back later to the primary 8 track format, unless you dump it to CDR.
I think, if you go the the point of actually getting the 788, you'd definitely be best off with the matched CDR, or an approved
Tascam compatible SCSI CDR, items sold seperately.