... you have a new PC, you load up a CD writing program, create a playlist, go to write it - and you find out the drive you were told is a CD-R / DVD rom, is JUST a DVD-rom.

Anyone know if it's worth bothering with DVD-R/W before I go out and get a cheap CD-R/W for a tenner?

I wanted to write a couple of extra CDs for the CZ trip but it looks like I'll be sticking to what's in the car already....

You can get a fast DVD (16 to 18 speed)/ CD writer for from £15 to £20.

So, for the extra few pounds I would 'open up your options' and get one.

If you know the model of the drive in your computer have a look online and see if there are any updates for it. I recently managed to apply an update which enabled my laptop DVD burner to deal with both + and - disks.

If your computer was not an own-build job have a look at th emanufacturers site for help.

I would just get a DVDRW+/- DL or whatever drive just to make sure. Should cost less than £30.

You should try having a DELL machine that only wants to recognise 1 CD/DVD drive at a time. No on the fly copying for me.