The compact disc (CD) is a digital optical disc data storage format that was co-developed by Philips and Sony to store and play digital audio recordings. It uses the Compact Disc Digital Audio format which typically provides 74 minutes of audio on a disc.

Mar 6, 2024 · The incredibly small dimensions of the bumps make the spiral track on a compact disc CD extremely long. If you could lift the data track off a CD and stretch it out into a straight line, it would be 0.5 microns wide and almost 3.5 miles (5 km) long!

On an optical disc, a track (CD) or title (DVD) is a subdivision of its content. Specifically, it is a consecutive set of sectors (called "timecode frames" on audio tracks) on the disc containing a block of data. One session may contain one or more tracks of the same or different types.

A CD can contain up to 99 tracks (including a data track for mixed mode discs). Each track can in turn have up to 100 indexes, though players that still support this feature have become rarer over time.

Even though CD's are relatively modern, the first few were actually invented back in 1978. It was at this time that the famous electronics companies Sony and Philips teamed up to develop a standard, universal compact disc to hold audio.

Mar 5, 2025 · compact disc (CD), a molded plastic disc containing digital data that is scanned by a laser beam for the reproduction of recorded sound and other information. Since its commercial introduction in 1982, the audio CD has almost completely replaced the phonograph disc (or record) for high-fidelity recorded music.

Oct 19, 2023 · Compact discs (CDs) store data in the form of tiny indentations on a smooth surface. A CD player uses a laser beam to read these indentations and convert them into digital data. However, scratches on the surface of the CD can cause the laser beam to scatter, making it difficult for the CD player to read the data correctly.

From a logical point of view, an audio CD (Compact Disc Digital Audio or CD-DA) is divided into tracks. One track represents one continuous segment of music data that the audio player should play as a single piece.

In a compact disc player, a laser beam must track a spiral row of pits which are 0.5 micrometers wide with track spacing 1.6 micrometers. Tracking is aided by a three-beam laser arrangement.

Jun 25, 2003 · A Compact Disc (see also CDDA in our WFTD archives), is a small optical disk on which data such as music, text, or graphic images is digitally encoded. It is essentially a digital medium that is read by a laser.