easy question....
 

i was wondering what effects different recording speeds have on the reproduction quality of cd's.... my cd-rom burns at 2x, 4x and 6x. Are different media types better at different speeds? eg. what is the best speed to record music at? what is the best speed to record cd-rom data at?
any help would be lovely!

Data doesn't matter so long as you burn at cd rated speed.
As far as music goes, when was the last time you played your music cds at anything other than 1x?

I was asking myself the same question. I think it depends on the quality of both your cd-writer and (to a lesser extent), your audio hardware.

Iv'e bought a Traxdata 8432 8x writer. Some Plastation games are "jittery" when burned at 8x speed, but at 4x speed these games arn't so bad. I have an old 1002 PSX which is really picky. However, I used to burn these games on a slow 2x Philips 3610 using EXACTLY the same PC setup. Not one game played up on my PSX. Then a friend told me that using a 12x Plextor writer they were able to burn PSX games onto Verbatim discs at 12x with no problems.

I also burned some of my music discs I wanted to backup. I found that whilst the fast-forward/rewind functions were a bit shaky (didn't look like the music was being tracked right, ie irregular displays on seconds counter of my CD player), the sound as a whole didn't alter in quality or stability. Fast-forwarding at 8x was the same as 4x. I use Traxdata or Verbatim for audio, and Traxdata Silver for PSX stuff.

I got the Traxdata writer cheap - £100 with Nero 5.03, so I am nclined to think that this writer is the cause of my worries. I intend to get a Plextor, then I'll know for sure when I burn some games/music at 16x.

Hope this helps.