Our band, Blarney, put out a disc on CD-R format because it was to be a small local run. We run off a few at a time (200 initial, then another couple of runs of 30 or 40) on the home PC when we need them. There are about 300 out there, the oldest about 3 years old now, and none have come back. No problems at all that we've heard of. We used respected name-brand CD-Rs (Maxell and Sony) and I'm sure some people have not treated them with archival cotton gloves, so they are probably treated about as well as regular CDs.

I was a bit dubious about the technology at first, not wanting to sell a product that might be defective, but I'm persuaded it fits the bill. We did use stick-on labels for them too (the CD Stomper thingy), making sure they are adhered well and flat and that worked out too. So I think it's a pretty good option for indie musicians to use. It's worked for us.