You can pick up DVD DL writers for as little as about £16 just to update on that, but u will get a very nice Pioneer for £30 in white black or silver.

Its actually not worth buying anything less than a DVD writer anymore. CD writers are almost as expensive.

And i know the feeling Thrush, my Sony seperate CD player has been showing signs of this for a while now, it was never approved for reading CD-R's, i bought it about 6 years ago, but it always used to read whatever i put in it but now it frequsntly loses its track when reading the TOC and when searching to tracks. bummer! Still reads pre-recorded discs perfectly though.