What are ASPI drivers and do I need them?

I dont know much about DVD burners and I have heard that ASPI drivers are sometimes needed for burning CDs and DVDs. But what are ASPI drivers? do I need to download and install them inorder to get different types of CD/DVD burning software to work? And is there a risk of installing the wrong ASPI drivers could this damage my hardware. And lastly where can I get the latest ASPI drivers for my DVD burner?