I bought a used 1X CD-R (external SCSI) drive off of a co-worker for, IIRC, several hundred dollars. I used to coaster every-other disc. Mostly, because I was using cheap CompUSA discs, that had their reflective top layer simply painted on. Scratch the top, scratch the reflective layer off. Or maybe it would just flake off after a while. At least, they had a warranty on those discs, so when I would collect a spindle full of coasters, I would bring it back, and they would give me a replacement. $30-50 worth, wow.
(Remember Princo discs?)
Eventually, I bought a Yamaha internal 6X CD-R/CD-RW (again, SCSI) drive, refurb, for like $220 or so I think it was. Great drive. Would do everything, DAO, TAO, CD+G, etc.