| After the release of the CD audio standard in 1982 by
Sony and Philips, they continued to cooperate through the 1980’s regarding the use of
CD technology for computer data. This is known as CD-ROM, or compact disc read only
memory. The CD-ROM operates using the same mechanical principles and similar to audio
CD’s; a CD-ROM has the capacity of 680MB or 74 minutes of audio, or some combination
of the two. The major difference was that audio CD’s are converted to analog signals
for the speakers, so missing data can be interpolated. While a CD-ROM cannot tolerate any
imprecision, each bit of data must be accurately read. Sony and Philips needed to develop
a great deal of additional Error Correcting Code so it can detect and correct most of the
minor errors on a CD-ROM disk to a level acceptable for data storage. In 1985, Sony and Philips announced the standard specifications for the CD-ROM and soon after they hit the market. Their original costs were extremely expensive due to the added research and capabilities. So CD-ROMs took awhile to catch on, with prices gradually dropping to the point where now virtually every computer sold comes with a CD-ROM. |