CD-R media: Must write speed match that of your drive?

[stingray]

I have spent several hours on the Internet looking for an answer to this question without success.

How critical is it to ensure that the advertiseed write speed of the CD-R media matches that of your drive? Is there some leeway either way?

For example, I have a batch of verbatim 700MB CD-Rs with x 48 indicated on the package. However my CDRW drive has a max write speed of x24. The retailer (a large reputable UK company) assures me that these discs can be written at any speed up to x 48, but is that really the case?

[dolphinius_rex]

yeah, that is basically true. You can write them at any speed from 48x and down. If you had a 52x drive you might even be able to burn them at 52x even! However, generally speaking you want to burn newer media at 12x or faster, simply because the media is more optomised for faster speeds, and less errors will occur. The best quality burns are usually found at 12x or 16x.