Digital Audio for Consumers is a format of recordable CD-R that was developed to combat unauthorized music copying. At one time stand-alone Audio-Only CD-R burners were on the market for consumers to burn their music discs. These discs have an extra layer of protection called Serial Copy Management System (SCMS) that prevents multiple illegal copies of a music CD.
The stand-alone recorders are still out there so we carry a couple of products by MAM-A Mitsui for our audio clients. MAM-A has a great technical paper that explains in detail the digital audio format.
From MAM-A: "Digital Audio for Consumers" is the term used to describe CD-R media and recorders that incorporate a copy protection scheme known as SCMS (see below). The idea is to limit unauthorized copies of "intellectual property", i.e., music owned by recording companies or musicians. CD-R discs that are recorded with these drives can not be copied with another drive that complies with SCMS. --You can't make a copy from a copy. CD recorders that comply with these requirements use built in software that looks for information on the CD-R and either rejects or accepts it. If it finds the copy protection coding, the recorder identifies it as "Digital Audio for Consumers" and recording begins If the CD-R is not coded, the disc is rejected. This system was adopted by manufacturers at the insistence of the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). Royalties are paid by the manufacturers to the recording industry for each CD-R sold.
Buy Digital Audio CD-Rs here.