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To my knowledge there is no "Redbook" standard for recordable CD's. The recording process is accomplished by way of stain-able dyes that react to the laser's input. And, BTW, is not a permanent storage system with an expected lifespan of approximately twenty years. This in no way has anything to do with the original "Redbook" standards developed in the 1970's for creating CD's by means of pressing pits and flats into the substrate. The CD player that doesn't accept either format would be the wild exception today. The latter of your explanations is true.
Here are the differences as I understand them. The "music" and "data" CD-Rs are nearly identical with one very important difference. If you are using a stand alone CD recorder that is intended for copying music it will only function if you use the "music" blanks. These consumer machines check for a flag on the disc telling them that it is ok to record on the media. Part of the extra price of the "music" CD-Rs go to the record companies to compensate them for lost revenues. Burners that are built into computers don't look for the flag.
My knowledge of cd-r vs cd-r audio is exactly the same as mrlowry's.I do not believe there is any more difference other than that.
Your comment regarding stand alone recorders is essentially true. I had a stand alone Philips unit that was very fussy about which discs it would accept for recording. Some CD+R's and CD-R's would work but it was hit or miss and you couldn't predict which would work and which would be spit out. Most often the offending disc would record but then not finalize which wasted your time and money.
I never tried them but from what I read on the internet this deck had no problems with re-writable discs. But the cost of RW's was usually higher than most "Audio" labelled discs, which led you to simply buy the "Audio" labelled discs. But since the recorder would occasionally accept the standard + or - R's there was some question on the net about the actual flagging method employed by the industry. Name brand discs, Maxell, TDK, Philips, etc., seemed to be more stringent about flags while the off brand manufacturers, Vertbatim, Dynex, etc., were just as likely to not include the flags in their supposed data only discs.
And my computer burner doesn't much care what I feed it.
HHB and Tascam stand alone recorders will do both. The original Philips audio recorders needed "digital audio" types to record..it was a money thang for musicans and record companies, did the money ever get to the right people, or just kept at the disc makers mbanks. Lotsa good balnks here www.mediasupply.com