response 256 of 257:

Feb 10 20:25 UTC 2000

By the time you wear out a CD-RW drive reading CDs with it, it'll probably
be obsolete anyway.  I don't see why they'd wear out quicker than CD-ROM
drives, and I have some of those that are ten years old that still work.  A
"real" CD-ROM drive will probably have faster throughput, though.  CD-ROM
drives out to 32x can be had for under $50, and most writers seem to be 12x
or less.  On the other hand, the only difference I've ever noticed between
8x and 32x, really, is that the 32x drives are much noisier.