Overusing CDRW burns laser?

[Solo]

I hope this is just misinformation but my Dad has just purchased a P3 and wanted the guy to put in a cdrw instead of a DVD but the guy told him he wouldnt install a cdrw without another cd player since using the cdrw as a main cd would burn out the laser prematurely. Is this a joke or what. While I can figure a salesman wanting to raise the cost bar, I wanted to pass it around here before I called BS....... any thoughts?
Solo

[Wiz]

i doubt it would burn it out, but a CD-RW has many more errors when reading a normal cd than a normal cd-rom. CD-RW error every 1000000000 bytes or so, while a cd-rom errors about every 1000000000000, thats 1000 times more bytes between errors. buy the cd-rw and install an old 32x, just to be safe.

[Mntsnow]

There is actually two reasons to add in a standard CD rom when using a burner in a system.

1st. It really speeds up the process when you want to COPY cd's (without a cd rom your burner has to copy the disk to a harddrive and then read the info from the harddrive when burning the CD)

2. With the additional heat that a burner creates when burnning a cd DOES increase the wear on a burner (just read the MTBF's for burners VS. CD-roms) and I personally feel the 35-50 bucks you spend on a CD rom is well worth the money when you are protecting a 150-350 dollar investment on a burner.

Mntsnow

[Solo]

Good deal, Thank you for the info. I do so much enjoy having a place to come too and get cold hard facts. I agree with the cd copy explaination whole heartedly and can add the failure cycles and error comparison to my cerebral knowledge base.
Thank You
Solo