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Both kinds of CDs are made of nearly the same material. From bottom to top...
PRESSED: Polycarbonate layer + foil layer + lacquer layer. Glue to hold it together.
BURNED: Polycarbonate layer + dye layer + foil layer + lacquer layer. Glue to hold it together.
With pressed discs, the information is first written to a glass stamper and then stamped, or "pressed," with precise mechanization into the polycarbonate layer. The foil acts as a reflective layer for your player's laser to read. With burned discs, a layer of organic dye is added to write, or "burn," information into as desired. A foil layer is included to again act as a reflective.
These materials are always part of the build. They're consistent. What's inconsistent is the quality of the materials and, in the case of CD-Rs, the process of making the finalized disc. Poor materials can lead to badly pressed CDs but, by and large, this isn't usually a problem. Especially considering the reliability in how precisely they're made. Burned discs, on the other hand, are made and sold at the consumer level in a variety of markets, come from a variety of suppliers of each material in different parts of the world and have different standards of quality. Added to that are variables when burning a disc, such as quality of burner, software and burn speed. And added to THAT is the burning process itself, which uses a laser to create (in a relatively sloppy way honestly) a disc that can fool a player into believing it's a real CD. These are the same variables in pressed/burned DVDs too.
When you burn your own discs, you have some measure of control in what blanks, equipment and settings you use. When someone else burns your discs, you have no control. For me personally, I try to buy smart and back up my data. If something is only available on CD-R and you're comfortable buying it, do so and back that disc up.
Ignore predicted longevity as we don't know how long any of these discs will last. Rely on knowing how they're made. It's as good a predictor as any.
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Actually, the discs are designed to be burned at a certain speed. You should avoid burning at the fastest setting, but the slowest can give you trouble too. It's advisable to burn at slightly faster than the medium setting, so if you buy 32X discs, somewhere around 20-24 would be best.
This site is terrific for advice and straight, no-nonsense explanations of recorded media. And everything digital.
http://www.digitalfaq.com
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Get in line behind me, Henry! 
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It's not just a matter of sound quality but a matter of ownership. That's what you're getting with a (hopefully reliable) hard copy. Like with any media, downloads and streaming are merely access. Discs are ownership.
And no amount of cultural acceptance (or rejection) is going to change that fact.
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I only looked into Deep Impact btw.
