1984 — CD ROM

With the computer era upon us, the people in the industry were always thinking of ways they can improve. How can we get our software out there to the public quicker? That is the question I would be thinking.

CD Rom

In 1982 a Japanese company called Denon came up with the format and later introduced it at a trade show in 1984. So what is a CD-ROM?

It is Compact Disc read only memory, (CD ROM) and it is a pre pressed optical compact disc that contains data. Computers can read this data, however, they can not write to it or erase the CD-ROMS.

If you look at them, they are identical to the audio CD’s and the data is retrieved in a very similar manner.

How are they made

They are made from a polycarbonate plastic which is about 1.2 mm think and it contains a small later of Aluminum which makes it reflective. A typical size is 120 MM in diameter. However,  I have seen them smaller. Some people would hand out these smaller ones as business cards. Since it can continua information about the company as well.

How do they work

When the data is transferred on to the disk as series of microscopic indentations it uses a laser to see these microscopic patterns, which are called pits and the laser light is used to read it and thus converted into binary data.

Yellow Book

This refers to the technical standard that Sony and Phillips came up with for all CD formats, yes all of them. This was done in 1983 and it specifies that the discs have a maximum capacity of 650 MiB. Then there came about the Rainbow books.

• Yellow Book (CD-ROM)
• Red book  (Audio CD’s)
• White book (For Video’s)

We can get into the all the other stuff, but that would be just boring.

Before CD ROM became the normal

When you wanted to install a program on your computer, you would have to install them via floppy disk and then have to do it in order. You know, Floppy number 1, number 2…. Down the line until you get to the last one number 24.  In the 1990’s this became the way you installed anything on your computer.

CD-ROM

Yes, these things were a blessing as you didn’t have to go thru the hassle of keeping track of 100’s of small floppy discs to reinstall a program if you ever need to. CD-ROMs changed the way computers behaved and how the companies operated.

The only drawback was that people didn’t understand that the CD-ROM drive wasn’t a cup holder. Yes, people would put cups in that as they didn’t understand what it was.  I know people are people .