Students' Guide to Information Technology, 2nd Edition

Technical convergence

caused by repeated playings, and grease or dust normally has no

effect. Unlike videodisc, a compact disc is only 5.25 inches across,

the same as an ordinary floppy disk.

Compact disc for multimedia applications

The huge capacity of compact discs means that they can store large

amounts of computer data, text, images, and sound Encyclope-

dias,

for example, are now being published in compact disc form.

This not only reduces their physical size, it also means that, since

they can be linked to the power of the computer, all entries on a

selected topic can be rapidly retrieved and displayed on the screen.

Another developmen