| CD-ROM drive
A computer peripheral that plays back
CD-ROMs and--with the right software--audio CDs. It consists of a spindle
that revs up the disc, a laser that flashes onto the disc's uneven
surface, a prism that deflects the laser beam, and a light-sensitive diode
that reads the flashing light. Since the audio CD standard calls for data
transfer of 150 kilobytes per second (KB/sec), all CD-ROM drives can
handle this speed, and most can manage 2X (double-speed, or 300 KB/sec) or
4X (quad-speed, or 600 KB/sec) rates. There are also 6X (900 KB/sec) and
even 8X (1,200 KB/sec) drives, but since most CD-ROM titles are squarely
aimed at transferring data within the 2X/4X bandwidth, you'll usually not
see much advantage to drives with higher transfer rates than with a 4X
drive. |