Quality of CD-r CDs

[Kaboom]

Being the fumblefingers i am (only while dealing with that horrible, lower-quality medium called CDs... ) i would like to make copies of some of the CD's i buy just to preserve the originals unscratched. Not that it would matter much with the crappy system i own at the moment, but how's the quality when copied directly?
is the music identical bit by bit?
Also, does reproduction get affected by factors such as the low reflectivity of CD-r? and by the REALLY LOW (i read its about 15% of the original CDs) refrectivity of CD-RW¿?

[musicoverall]

Being the fumblefingers i am (only while dealing with that horrible, lower-quality medium called CDs... ) i would like to make copies of some of the CD's i buy just to preserve the originals unscratched. Not that it would matter much with the crappy system i own at the moment, but how's the quality when copied directly?
is the music identical bit by bit?
Also, does reproduction get affected by factors such as the low reflectivity of CD-r? and by the REALLY LOW (i read its about 15% of the original CDs) refrectivity of CD-RW¿?

I use an outboard CD recorder hooked directly to my audio system and I use TDK blanks marked "For Music Use". My recorder is a pro model and uses the cheap blanks rather than the $2 a pop ones that have the serial copy management built in. I have made several copies of CD's and have yet to hear a copy that differs in sound from the original. I think in some cases if you copy at 8x speed, you might hear a negative difference but I copy at 2x.

Now... I don't claim that the CD-R's will last as long as the factory made ones! But that has yet to be determined. So far I've had no problems.