Just before the CD format was developed, "optical storage" meant removable disk "shuttles" that contained the platters similar to what we would soon use on their own. This is the point at which the original volume and specs for the CD were developed, meaning 650MB on the CD size we are all used to now. The difference? In the late 1980s, the encased optical storage units were about $100 each - well, they were re-writable, after all - and the burner/reader device? It was, honestly, the size of a breadbox, weighed about 30 pounds, was slow as molasses and cost over $3,000. By the end of the 1990s, CD-ROMs that could read CDs, but not write (or "burn") them, were standard in most PCs. It has now been over five years since CD burners and DVD-ROM hybrid drives became an entry-level feature, and now most computers except for bargain specials or netbooks have optical drives that read and write CDs and DVDs. The premium spot is now occupied by Blu-ray drives, and the prices are dropping fast. If past is prologue, you will be seeing Blu-ray readers, then reader/writers, become standard equipment in the next two phases of PC development. Basic operation CD and DVD media and technology have replaced floppies, magnetic tape drives and other devices for backing up user data. They are also widely used for the distribution of software, music, video and games. A single standard means that CDs and DVDs traverse the computer and consumer electronics landscape for use in everything digital that people are doing today. The technology is also what's behind the various kinds of duplicators on the market. Still, most people don't know how they work. It's all about lasers. A certain kind - a semiconductor laser - is aimed through a lens that guides the beam to the CD/DVD surface. Photodiodes pick up the reflection and use the resulting calculations and measurements to stabilize the operation then control the reading and duplication steps. To work correctly, the laser needs to be at the precise wavelength for the particular medium, 780nm (nanometers) for CDs and 650nm for DVDs. Several "servos" keeps things adjusted and moving correctly, one constantly monitoring the distance from lens to disc, the other causing the laser to write "out" from the center of the disc in a tight spiral. As the actions and components come together, the reflective dye placed on the CD/DVD surface changes as the laser does its work, encoding data on the optical medium. The PC was a start, at least Of course, having one great CD/DVD drive in your computer is fine for everyday use, but making 25 or 1000 copies - to distribute your software, original music, photos, what-have-you - is the ultimate in tedium and wasted time. This is where duplicators enter the picture. There are various kinds, but the main idea tying them together is that they attempt to offer either an assembly line method or an x-number-at-once method for producing multiple discs. The duplicator that would look most familiar to most computer users is the tower duplicator, in which a certain number of drives are grouped together in a case that attaches to a PC with FireWire or USB (although there are networkable ones, too). Whether for CDs or DVDs, this kind of unit allows duplication in batches whose size depends on the number of drives in the tower. There are standalone towers, too, with no computer required, where one read-only drive feeds data to x-number of drives - and there are some that enable you to make over 50 discs at once, and even link them together for mass manufacturing. The automated helpers An "autoloading duplicator" lets you copy your master disc to blanks in a continuous, automated process. All you do is load a stack or spindle of blank discs where designated and the device will take blank discs, load them into a disc burner and then unload discs when the duplication is done. CDs, DVDs and Blu-ray discs are supported now in various models. It's a simplified, hands-free way of getting your discs done, and some of the larger units can contain multiple drives. There are also units known as "autoloading publishers," which print the discs in addition to duplicating them. You do need special printable media for these devices, but that cost is dwarfed by the savings you will realize printing your own discs. You load the machines up with from 20 to 100 discs, depending on the make and model, and your discs are recorded and professionally printed - automatically. The units have robot arms that load and unload discs, and units are available for CDs, DVDs and Blu-ray. There are a number of models of these devices, for low-run operations as well as high-end ones. For those who are graphically challenged, most of the duplicate-and-print units come with labeling software.
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Just before the CD format was developed, "optical storage" meant removable disk "shuttles" that contained the platters similar to what we would soon use on...
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