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CD-R facts for kids

Kids Encyclopedia Facts

A CD-R (also called Compact Disc Recordable) is a compact disc that can be recorded once. When people record a compact disc, they put either music or data on it.

A compact disc that can be recorded multiple times (and erased) is the CD-RW.

When you put data onto a CD, it is called burning a disc. A laser "burns" pits into a dye layer on the disc, making them transparent. These transparent pits can later be read back by the CD drive or audio CD player as data or music.

There are three types of dye used in CD-R discs. The most common is phthalocyanine, and it is usually light green. CMC Pro (formerly Taiyo Yuden) uses cyanine dye. It is usually teal or dark green. Verbatim uses phthalocyanine dye on some discs, and AZO dye on others. AZO dye is usually dark blue or blue-ish silver. The metal layer on the disc is usually made of silver. Archival discs and some professional audio discs use a gold top layer. Verbatim UltraLife discs have a silver main layer, and a gold upper protective layer, providing the reflectivity of silver and the chemical stability of gold. Early cyanine discs could decay and become unplayable within a few years. Recent cyanine discs have preservatives added to the dye to prevent this from happening. AZO and phthalocyanine dyes do not need preservatives and do not decay easily.

Images for kids

  • CD-R

    Assorted CD-Rs

  • Rohling-Datenschicht

    Isolated data layer of a CD-R

  • Basic Illustration and mesures of a CD

    This graphic demonstrates some of the visible features of a CD-R, including the lead-in, program area, and lead-out. A microscopic spiral of digital information begins near the disc's center and progresses toward the edge. The end of the data region and the lead-out can actually be anywhere, depending on how much data is recorded. Data-free areas of the disc and silent portions of the spiral reflect light differently, sometimes allowing track boundaries to be seen

  • CDgroove

    Photomicrograph of the groove in a CD-R disc

  • CD-R with degraded dye - 20080220

    An example of a CD-R burned in 2000 showing dye degradation in 2008. Part of the data on it has been lost.

See also

Kids robot.svg In Spanish: CD-R para niños

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CD-R Facts for Kids. Kiddle Encyclopedia.