Serban,

Sorry to hear you're having the same problem I experienced. Boy oh boy is the SC816 a piece of S*@#$T. Anyway, I use a Mac G3 and a Plextor CD Burner. I was getting concerned about my computer rig when I started experiencing the same thing you've described. However, after much experimentation and troubleshooting I've figured out that the 816 is very sensitive to the media you put into it. When I switched to Taiyo Yuden, which is one of the CD-R brands recommended by the manufacturer of my burner, the problem cleared up immediately. Before that I was using Quantegy, Ricoh and Kodak discs. The Quantegy works most of the time, but the Ricoh and Kodak were not good matches. Another interesting point is the Kodak discs I was using were 80 minute discs, but I've since learned that 80 minute CD-R's can cause many read problems with most consumer audio cd players. So stick with standard 74 minute discs; the extra 6 minutes is not worth the grief. The reason I dislike the 816 so much is because each of the discs which had read problems worked perfectly with all my other audio equipment. The 816 also continutes to have read and skip problems with store bought audio CD's. So as long as your CD-R's work with other equipment, just assume it's the 816 and try another brand of media until you find a good match. I highly recommend the Taiyo Yuden discs I mentioned above. A great place I've found to purchase them is a company called CDR Outlet (a very reputable company I've ordered from many times before). Good Luck!

Check them out:

http://www.cdroutlet.com/