CD-ROM 

(Compact Disk-Read Only Memory)

Short for Compact Disc-Read Only Memory, CD-ROM drives or Optical Drives are CD players inside computers that can have speeds in the range from 1x and beyond, and have the capability of playing audio CD's and computer data CD's. Below is a picture of the front and back of a standard CD-ROM drive.

CD-ROM transfer speeds

Below are the standard transfer rates and access times for CD-ROM drives. The below figures are averages you can expect to find on each speed of CD-ROM drive.

Drive speed Transfer rate (BPS) Access time (ms) Single-speed (1x) 153,600 400 Double-speed (2x) 307,200 300 Triple-speed (3x) 460,800 200 Quad-speed (4x) 614,400 150 Six-speed (6x) 921,600 150 Eight-speed (8x) 1,228,800 100 Ten speed (10x) 1,536,000 100 Twelve speed (12x) 1,843,200 100 Sixteen speed (16x) 2,457,600 90 Eighteen speed (18x) 2,764,800 90 Twenty four speed (24x) 3,686,400 90 Thirty two speed (32x) 4,915,200 85 What is X? 1. In general, an x is used to represent any single digit. For example, you may see Computer Hope and other companies list Microsoft Windows 3.x that indicates Windows 3.1 or Windows 3.11, or Microsoft Windows 9x that means either Windows 95 or Windows 98 2. When referring to a computer CD drive, an X refers to the transfer speed. For example, the original 1X CD-ROM had a speed of 153,600 BPS, this means a 24X has a BPS of 3,686,400 or 153,600 x 24. The higher the number, the faster data is going to be read from the CD drive 1.    CD ROM ·         Read Real Audio Data ·         Read MP3 Data ·         Read Video Data ·         Read Software Data 2.   CD Writer ·         Read Real Audio Data ·         Read MP3 Data ·         Read Video Data ·         Read Software Data ·         Write a Data CD ·         Re-Write a Data CD 3.   DVD ROM ·         Read Real Audio Data ·         Read MP3 Data ·         Read Video Data ·         Read Software Data ·         Read DVD Data 4.   Combo Drive ·         Read Real Audio Data ·         Read MP3 Data ·         Read Video Data ·         Read Software Data ·         Read DVD Data ·         Write a Data CD ·         Re-Write a Data CD 5.   Combo Drive ·         Read Real Audio Data ·         Read MP3 Data ·         Read Video Data ·         Read Software Data ·         Read DVD Data ·         Write a Data CD ·         Re-Write a Data CD ·         Write a Data DVD CD ·         Re-Write a Data DVD CD