Compact Disc Recordable from FOLDOC

Compact Disc Recordable

(CD-R) A write-once version of CD-ROM. CD-Rs can hold about 650 megabytes of data. They are very durable and can be read by normal CD-ROM drives, but once data has been written it cannot be altered.

Standard prerecorded CDs have their information permanently stamped into an aluminium reflecting layer. CD-R discs have a dye-based recording layer and an additional golden reflecting layer.

Digital information is written to the disc by burning (forming) pits in the recording layer in a pattern corresponding to that of a conventional CD.

The laser beam heats the substrate and recording layer to approximately 250 C. The recording layer melts and the substrate expands into the space that becomes available.

Phillips: New Technologies.

Nearby terms:

Compact Disc Read-Write ♦ Compact Disc Recordable ♦ Compact Disc Rewritable

Try this search on Wikipedia, Wiktionary, Google, OneLook.