What are the differences between an audio CDR and a data CDR? Can I use a data CDR in my CD writer to make backups of my music CDs or must I always use the more expensive audio CDRs?

There is no difference between a data CDR disk and an audio CDR disk unless the audio CDR disk is marked CDR-DA Music Only. Those disks are more expensive and include a royalty to the music industry. They are specifically for HiFi CD recorders that are not attached to computers. They are what are called AHRA encoded, which prevents making a copy of a copy. That is not the case with regular CDR disks. However the HiFi CD recorders will ONLY write on CDR-DA disks. If your CD writer is attached to your computer then odds are you can easily write an audio CD on the far less expensive CDR media and it will play on just about any audio CD player.Nero software is a superb package for writing not only audio but also data CDs.

There are a few essential items you need to record CD+G disks (Karaoke). The first is a CD Recorder that will record CD+G. The Yamahas, Plextors and Panasonics we sell will do this (TEAC will not nor many others). Second you need software capable of copying CD+G and the Padus DiscJuggler we sell will do that as well as allow compilation CD+G disks. Third you need a CDRom drive capable of reading CD+G.

The Panasonic 7503 is a SCSI device. There are no native USB or Firewire drives in the market at this point. However there are 'bridge' products that use either IDE or SCSI drives with an interface attached that converts to USB or Firewire. USB has difficulty sustaining the data rate necessary for even 4x recording.

The salesman certainly knows what he is talking about and yes there are royalties attached to the cost of CDR DA (Music) CDs. The recording device you have also will not copy a copy because of the copyright protection.

You cannot legally duplicate copyrighted material and sell for profit (or even give it away). You can make compilations for your own use however. The store you saw doing this pays a royalty through ASCAP (watchdog of the recording industry) for each copy of a track that it sells.

You can use either kind of media (CDR or CD-RW) with CDR/RW drives.