Drives are also not quite as reliable yet as CD writers/rewriters.
I purchased a DVD+RW drive last month.
Or rather I purchased one back in March but that one was faulty on delivery (it would only read and write CD-R and read preloaded CDs, nothing else).
The replacement drive (different brand and model) was also faulty. It would refuse to even recognise that CD media were inserted. After trying for a month to get support on it or get my money back (the typical "warranty void if not installed by professional" (by which they mean themselves of course) clause on components) I counted my losses and purchased yet another drive from yet another brand in another store (having exhausted the 2 brands and models the original store carried).
That one finally worked. The 2nd faulty unit was sent to the manufacturer 2 weeks ago for repair or replacement at last, was supposed to get a phonecall within a week about that (but still nothing).

The drive I use now is an AOpen drive, a brand I have good experience with from other equipment in the past. It functions well and has good performance (though I use it mainly to burn CDs, at least until the 100 or so I have in stock are used up (my old CD writer finally gave out after 4 years and 2 PCs shortly after I stocked up on new media)).