2 biggest differences between CDR's and Stamped Silver CD's are:
1) CDR's Dye Layer is suseptible to deterioration due to exposure to light and because the upper surface is thinner and less durable than silvers.
2) Stamped disks have clearly defined perforations that the laser then reads as 1's & 0's (or pits and lands to be more accurate). Unlike the precise holes created in the stamping process, if you look at the laser burned holes on a CDR through an electron microscope (lemme open my desk draw here and get mine...... ahh.. yes, there they are
), you'll see that they're very ragged and imprecise. This causes errors on decoding, which means that Reed Solomon error correction needs to work much harder to decode an audio disk that you burn on your computer. There is built in error checking when you do data disks, so the laser can go back and re-read sectors if necessary.
Ditto the McFadden FAQ that RainDawg has pointed you to. This document has been carefully tended, and drawn from many sources, but mostly from the pioneering Usenet groups that dealt with burning stuff to disk. It's invaluable knowledge if you need to know this stuff.
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