After blindly following other forums I've gone to Lite-On several times myself, and I don't know if it's specifically their drives, or just "today's" technology, but thay have all worjed perfectly every time.

www.forums.anandtech.com , under "hot deals" will frequently show you what stores have good deals on burners. Last week I picked up a drive from Best Buy for $15 after rebate, that was a 52x Lite-On. I've seen them go as far as free-after-rebate even around last holiday time.

I think OfficeMax currently has a Cendyne burner, 52x24x52 at about $10 (I don't recall) after rebate. In the past this was a re-badged Lite-On drive.

Oh, I normally get "about 10x", give or take. Seems that if it's at the beginning or the end of the disk makes a difference, and ditto for the quality of it (something from say Sony vs. Wax Trax).