CD-ROMs are a spin off from the Compact Disc (CD) technology that has revolutionised the audio world. Instead of storing digital audio data, files are encoded, giving some 600 Mbytes of storage on a single Compact Disc. CD-ROM drives use the same principles as a Compact Disc player – a laser generates a fine beam of light which focuses onto the tracks containing the data. The reflective surface returns the beam except where a pit has been etched into the surface – this allows binary data to be stored and read back.
The original audio based technology was developed by Philips and Sony in the late 1970s and culminated in the issue of the Red Book specification for audio CDs in 1982. The potential application of CD technology as a high-capacity, ...
Get Multimedia and Communications Technology, 2nd Edition now with the O’Reilly learning platform.
O’Reilly members experience books, live events, courses curated by job role, and more from O’Reilly and nearly 200 top publishers.
