Yeah,
More than likely some 3rd party software was installed that "over-took" Windows-XP standard drag and drop via Roxio software.
Some of those programs even require a "Format" function before you can even burn files to the CD.
I have several applications that burn CD's and DVD's, but I still like the ol drag and drop features for the quickness the Roxio provides.
Take a look at
http://www.annoyances.org/exec/forum/winxp/ for XP related problems. Do a search on Roxio, maybe and see if it comes up with something to make sure Roxio is always your "default" software to burn CDs.
Another possibility is that Roxio doesn't support your burner. I've never seen that before, but I'm sure it is a possibility. Darn computers.... Job security for me though!
