can't open ALL cd-rw disks

What program did you use to create these mp3 discs? I'd guess that they are locked up in some proprietry program. You could try installing wine and running the .exe file with that, though this might not work. See https://help.ubuntu.com/community/Wine for more information on doing that.

You could try using the program in Windows and put the mp3s onto disc in a different way.

I used Adeptec [now Roxio] Easy CD Creator - Direct CD - where it took almost an hour to format a cd-rw disk. I would drag & drop files into a dialog box as data [mp3s] and they would hold about 523 MB of long named files of mp3s. My writer that i used to make these was a Philips and it burned out. The replacement burner forced me to use Nero, it wouldn't recognise Adeptec. I let the disks sit for 4 years and now i'm trying to access them. Some of these disks opened using Windows XP with a Dell comp. but i sent the Dell back. now they won't open in Linux, yet some of them will and some won't and they were both made the same way and at the same time. more to come ...

Last week i opened some of these disks in Linux and copied them to HD now i take the same disks and they won't open in the CD burner but they will open in the DVD-ROM.

I don't think i need Wine or other programs to open these cd-rw disks. Some disks will open in the CD writer drive but not in the DVD-ROM. Then some will open in DVD-ROM but not in writer. Then some disks won't open in either. But it doesn't matter what brand of re-writable disks i use. They are suppose to open in any standard cd-rom or DVD-ROM and most writers. When these disks try to open i get these 2 files i've stated above [autorun.inf & Udfrinst.exe] and they will show the name of the disk on the icon on the desktop. And if i make a 'disk image' file, it will show there is 530 MB or more of data on the disk [as mp3s]. When i make a 'disk image' and then burn it to a CD-R, and try to open that disk, the same 2 files are all that show up[even though the disk says it's over 500 mb of space used.
So i'm stuck.

i installed wine but can't figure out how to use it to open cd-rws.

I am using 10.04 version; just made a dvd full of photos with cd creator and ubuntu, can not open it with ubuntu.
as a test I used a friend computer with windows vista and no problem.
I used my own with xp and again no problem.
What is going on?
Regardless to say this version of ubuntu, actually SuperUbuntu is probably the best so far but still lacking in cd reading.