alpha Posted November 30, 2001 Share Posted November 30, 2001 i don't know if this is off-topic but anyway: do you know if computer cd-rom drives can damage cd's? my old cd-player is broken so i have to use my computer to play music, and i just wanted to make sure that the drive won't damage the cd's, especially when it's a cd-rw drive... so, anything i should know? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Järsimähäiriö Posted November 30, 2001 Share Posted November 30, 2001 It's perfectly safe as long as the player has a sharp needle. Lame, I admit. But it's ok really. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Moo Posted November 30, 2001 Share Posted November 30, 2001 why would CD-ROM drives damage CDs any more than a normal CD player?? it's the exact same mechanism, just that a CD-ROM drive can spin faster, but it will spin at 1X when playing a music CD anyway... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alpha Posted November 30, 2001 Share Posted November 30, 2001 okay, just checking.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Bugbread Posted December 4, 2001 Share Posted December 4, 2001 Seems like your problem has been resolved, but, just in case: No problem. Even on a CD-RW you couldn't even damage the disc by trying to write to it because: first, the CD-RW determines if the CD is writable, and when it determines that it isn't, it won't write, and: even if it DID try to write to the CD, CD-RW's don't burn CDs like a pro burner. Here's a quick explanation. Regular CD's are made by etching a master plate (of glass) with bumps representing 1s and 0s. Then acrylic is pressed onto the master plate to make discs of...bumpy plastic. This bumpy plastic is then coated with a thin layer of aluminum (or aluminium), which is covered by another layer of plastic. The laser scans across this surface during playback, and non-bumps are reflected into a sensor, registering as a "1" (I believe), and the laser reflects at a different angle from the bump, and since the sensor doesn't detect a beam, it registers a "0" (the "1" and "0" might be the other way around, I'm not sure). A CD-R works because there is a layer of photosensitive dye that turns opaque at high temperatures (not high enough to melt, damage, or in any way change the encasing plastic). There is a layer of aluminum behind this layer. There is a second laser in a CD-R, the "write" laser, which is more powerful. This turns on and off for each 1 or 0, making microscopic dots on the dye layer. When this CD is played, just like a regular CD, the read laser is aimed at the CD, and the translucent spots refelect into the sensor ("1") while the dark spots don't reflect ("0"). Since the write laser is only powerful enough to change the dye color, and not the actual plastic (melting the plastic even microscopically would cause massive amounts of noise, or, for computer programs, massively error-filled files), and sure as hell can't melt aluminium, even trying to write to a regular CD shouldn't damage it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.