The tecnology is NOT different between audio and data cd's. But the record companies opposed cd's being available to consumers because of the possible loss of buisiness due to copying. So when the first recorders came out, the deal they cut with the record companies required the cd-manufacturers to send the record companies a royalty payment on each CD-R sold. The only way to enforce this was to put a bit of computer data on the music discs that identified the disc as being a Music Cd. The data discs lack this identifier and so an audio burner won't recognise them. But other than this bit of computer data the technology is identical. I have heard that there are ways to get around this, usually by prying the door open after it has read the TOC but I can get a 15-pack of music cd's at Sam's for $7.50 so thats not expensive enough to get me to do that. I think a case can be made that audio burners, being designed specifically for audio, might do that job a little bit better. Also a little bit of trivia. The way a consumer cd is recorded is different than commercial cd's whether data or music. In consumer discs, there is a heat sensitive dye that changes color and so reflectivity when heated. Consumer burners don't actually burn pits and lands when they burn. They just change the reflectivity of the dye. Interesting.
