If you're going to mod it for playing backups, you should consider getting a Rhea and save yourself from burning CD's. It replaces the optical drive with an SD reader so you can boot games off a SD card. It's more reliable, region free, is slightly faster at loading.
Currently supports CDI, CCD+IMG+SUB, MDS+MDF, and ISO images.
The Rhea/Phoebe are really hard to get, and have a poor interface. You have to put your images in numbered folders and press a button on the device to cycle through the images.
I plan to get a Rhea, but only to stick in a spare Saturn I have. I still think CDs are going to be a better experience.
The Dreamcast version, gdemu, now has a nice UI and is more friendly.
I used to be like you and thought CD's were the way to go, but after getting Rhea, I've changed my tune. Having multiple SD cards for different games and genres is the right way to go with this set-up, takes less time than burning CD's (CDR's are getting harder to source for cheap these days anyway). And the concerns of pressing a small button to change games is still better than having to swap out discs. Besides a UI like the gdemu will eventually happen, the creator has stated this in the past.
The Rhea GUI/menu is out: http://assemblergames.com/l/threads/official-rhea-discussion.57377/page-7#post-847473
But will high-quality CD-Rs? I actually don't think that most people get a Rhea to future-proof the Saturn, although that is a big side benefit of having it.The CD drive in a Saturn uses a common pickup that is still sold today. Only $20 new from eBay. These things will be around forever.
The CD drive in a Saturn uses a common pickup that is still sold today. Only $20 new from eBay. These things will be around forever.