Oftentimes, my burned discs will have these weird lines on
them that go from the edge of the disc towards the center.
The lines look a messy combination of translucent and
opaque dye, just mixed up like paint or something.
Does anyone know what I’m talking about? I know the
description is kind of vague, but unfortunately my digital
camera can’t good a decent picture of it…
(I’m using a NEC2500a with Ritek 8x +R media).
js
Its not uncommon for burned discs to have different colours. This is usually in the form of rings as the drive goes from 4X - 6x - 8x during the burn.
Is this the effect your seeing on your discs?
I had the same effect on some very dodgy DVD+R (manufacturer “[]”) that were burned on my liteon 812. Sometimes they look kinda like lightning bolts 
Chances are that the burner:
a) Doesn’t have a suitable writing strategy to write the disc.
b) The media is extremely poor quality.
Most likely “b”.
Nope, they are not rings.
Yes, that’s a great way to describe them, lightning bolts!
Media huh? Well, looks like I have some research/tests to do…
js