It is all 1s and 0s. The errors would come from the computer software not burning the CD correctly. Digital media should be the same, no matter the quality of disc it is burned on. The difference is the bitrate of the .wav .mp3 or whatever. Recording errors I guess would happen due to CD media but the burner itself can be to blame as well. The main concern of mine with CD burning is that the burnt CDs seem to get scratched easier. I would rather have music on a iPod honestly or some other digital audio storage device.
Hard drives are OK, but I prefer to not listen to compressed formats. CDs are more portable than hard drives, so they win for convenience, but that's about it.
Obviously, the media must be compatible with the recording device or you will produce a greater number of errors. The reason to use high grade media is that the higher standard of quality of a high grade recording device is also supported. You must understand that despite all the talk about how tolerant digital reproduction is, in theory, CDs are a compromise of that process. Another thing to note is that, in addition to all the "within tolerances" speeches you can make, SOMETHING inside the disc must physically change in order to store all those ones and zeros. That physical change and the degree of stability and predictability is greater with media manufactured under more strict standards of uniformity.
Please, don't start on some ones and zeroes discussion, about how music is music in digital, because there are plenty of us who can HEAR the difference, repeatedly, double blind, etc. It almost always comes down to the resolution of your overall system being too low, if you can't hear the differences for yourself. The delicacy of my system to produce minute details is perfectly capable of demonstrating which CDs are better and you don't need to do a bit count analysis to HEAR the differences between different grades of CD media.
I am not interested in arguing about this, again, so you will just have to trust me on this one or else go argue with about fifteen thousand audiophiles over at Steve Hoffman's forum.
