PLAY CDR's IN XBOX!
I've watched Army of Darkness and I still don't know what you are talking about...
Back to the topic on hand, it seems that newer 'Boxes have no troubles at all reading CDRs. I can attest to this as my brand new Xbox has read all the CDRs (audio, at least - don't have a mod) that I've put in it without any reading troubles. There are also reports that some of the newer models ship with a 20Gb drive instead of an 8.
Back to something mentioned earlier...the Cube is currently outselling the Box in Japan by about a factor of 100. While the Box barely manages 1000 units per week, the Cube sells over 100,000
If you want an incentive to buy an Xbox come to Australia, where you can pick up the console, JSRF/Sega GT 2002, Halo and a DVD remote for around $400AUD (~$200USD).