One of the things I remember most is that cheap, defective or old drives can just fuck up the burning process and now you have a useless disk of plastic you can use as a bad freesbee. I never used the fastest burn option for that reason and still had like 1\40 failed burns 'cause my drive was all cheap, defective and old. With how rarely used they are rn, the price of such failure can grow pretty quick. Some of my relatives in the 00s used them as holiday decorations, wall-mounted them on a string as they are shiny and reflective. Although cringe, it's a little better than just throwing them in a dumpster, I guess.
If you put them in the microwave for a few seconds they get this cool crackle effect on the shiny side. If you've got one of those old "skip repair" doohickeys that buffed it in a radial pattern that's nice too. Keep some plain for a nice contrast.