Burning CDs....

I had quite a problem with burning CDs with all my PCs - I never seemed to have the right "format" on hand - 8XRW+/-, RW-, etc, or I would constantly buy the wrong one, for whatever computer I was trying to use.

Now that i have a Mac, what are the options? I have a MacBook Pro - what kind of CDs do i buy? Is it straight forward, or are there little tricks like what I found with the PCs (as an example, for some reason, my IBM cant read any CD that I burned on my HP...)

you can use any DVD on your MBP ( + or - , R or RW), you can only use CD-R or CD-RW for CDs (700mb discs). Invest in Toast Titanium, it's fantastic for burning absolutely everything, it also gives you the option of burning a data disc just for mac usage, or for PC and mac usage. If you dont want to spend any money, download a freeware application called Burn. It's very easy to use, all click and drag stuff.

Thanks! So the Burn utility that came with the laptop is not as good as the other two you mentioned? What are its shortcomings?

Thats good news about the DVDs, obviously I have a lot leftover from all my PC CD burning mistakes.....

The burn utility works fine as far as im aware (i've never actually used it). I just much prefer to use an application to do that sort of thing.