CD vs. DVD


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In the past, if you wanted to store a large amount of data you would use magnetic tape cartridges. Unfortunately, these cartridges were slow, unstable, and expensive. Optical discs hold more data, are more stable and less expensive than magnetic tape cartridges. You may not be familiar with the term optical disc, but you probably own at least a few of them!

The main types of optical discs include:



Today, you can buy a new computer with a drive that will play CD-ROMs, audio CDs, and DVDs. However, home DVD players are for DVD playback only, so don't try to play your CD-ROMs in them. Also, don't try to play a CD-ROM with your audio CD player—you might damage your speakers.

Audio CDs are also optical discs, and work essentially the same way as data CDs (CD-ROM). The difference between a music CD and a computer data CD is the way in which the data is written to the CD and read back by the CD player. With the right CD recorder and software, you can create CDs in either format (or both).

CD recorders allow you to "burn" (record data to) a compact disc. Using CD-Rs and CD-RWs you can backup 650 MB of data on CD. Using DVD-Rs and DVD + RWs you can backup 4.7 GB of data.



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Optical Devices: