I have a Mac Powerbook g3 running system 9.2 @ 233 mgz, with 96 MBs of
memory.  I purchased it used.

Toast 3.5.7 burns unrecognizable CDs on system 9.2:  Roxio has kindly
suggested upgrading for a mere $70. The burner is a Ricoh MP7040S, and
I can find no work-around to get it working - it's too old of a model,
nor supported by Apple’s "Disc Burner."  I understand that 10.2 is a
new generation that runs fundamentally differently and more quickly
than previous Mac OS's.  What would be more economic speed up this
wonderful, but four year old machine:  more memory, 10.2, or some
combination.

So should I fork over the money to Roxio, or should I buy OS 10.2?

First, let's make certain you can even upgrade to OS 10.2.  It sounds
like you have one of the Series I PowerBook G3s.  Before "Series I"
came the original PowerBook G3.  Mac OS X does not support the
original PowerBook G3 but it does support later PB G3s.
Series I info:
http://www.powerbookcentral.com/reviews/wallstreview.shtml
Original PowerBook G3:
http://www.powerbookcentral.com/reviews/G3review.shtml

Moving on, OS X also requires at least 128M of ram (although more is
always recommended) and at least 3G of free space on your HD:
http://www.apple.com/macosx/upgrade/requirements.html

So with your current configuration of 96B of RAM, you're going to need
to upgrade that.  And I don't know how much HD space you have left,
but you may need to get a new/larger HD as well.

I would suggest first maxing out the RAM on your machine and seeing
how things run.  256MB of RAM for your PB G3 should set you back
around $50 and will provide you with a noticeable overall speed
increase.  To view a list of places that sell RAM, go to
www.ramseeker.com and select your Mac model from the pop-up menu near
the top of the page:
http://www.ramseeker.com/

Next, I think you should fork over the money to Roxio.  Toast 5.0
works with both 9.2 and 10.2, so if you upgrade it and later get 10.2,
then you should still be able to use your same new copy of Toast.  
Short review of Toast 5.0 (with Jam):
http://www.cnet.com/software/0-3227898-1205-9633716.html

If you are still having troubles, I would suggest even looking into
getting a new CD burner.  Their prices have dropped and you can now
get a good one for almost the price of OS X itself.

As you stated, 10.2 is a fundamentally differently system than 9.2. 
Running 10.2 on an older/slower machine with not a lot of RAM may be a
frustrating experience.   While it does have some nice features, if
you can rock out on your current 9.2 setup, then you may want to hold
off on jumping up to 10.  Simply upgrading to 10.2 will probably not
fix the Toast 3.5.7 woes.

Additionally, I noticed in another question that you asked about your
Umax Astra 600S.  If you do decide to install 10.2, make certain that
your scanner drivers will work with it or else you will have to run
system 9.2 whenever you want to use the scanner.

You may also want to read Macworld's review of OS 10.2.  As they
write, "we recommend that you run it on a Mac with a G4 processor, and
you'll want as much RAM as your system can take":
http://maccentral.macworld.com/news/0208/16.jaguar.php

price recap...

Mac OS 10.2: ~$120
256MB RAM: ~$50
toast upgrade: $70
new CD burner: $150 and up

You may also want to post about this to the active and helpful
Discussion forums on the Apple.com site:
http://discussions.info.apple.com/

If this answer does not fully cover your dilemma, please indicate
which specific PowerBook G3 you have and its current HD capacity.  I
will attempt to clarify the answer and do additional research if
needed.

leep-ga




Some search queries used:
10.2 requirements
://www.google.com/search?hl=en&ie=ISO-8859-1&q=10.2+requirements
10.2 "powerbook g3"
://www.google.com/search?q=10.2+%22powerbook+g3%22&hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&start=10&sa=N
toast Roxio 9.2
://www.google.com/search?hl=en&lr=&ie=ISO-8859-1&q=toast+Roxio+9.2
10.2 jaguar review
://www.google.com/search?hl=en&lr=&ie=ISO-8859-1&q=10.2+jaguar+review

Wow - did you ever earn your 5 bucks.  Thank you!

You might want to look into this product:
http://www.yellowdoglinux.com/products/ydl.shtml

Linux is a powerful and versitle solution; YellowDog seeks to make it
friendly and available for Mac users as well. (OS X is based on
FreeBSD, which has some significant differences... but YellowDog has
been around since before OS X anyway.)

So give it a shot and see.