In today's demanding marketplace, advances in technology are constantly being made. While it may seem like just yesterday when 8-tracks and audio cassette tapes ruled the world of music media, today's landscape is vastly different. Despite I-Pod style devices experiencing a strong surge in recent years, CD's (compact discs) have remained the first choice with consumers purchasing music for nearly two decades now. In fact, over $5 billion dollars worth of CD's were sold in America in the last year. Furthermore, consumers are now able to quickly copy songs from these compact discs onto a blank CD by using a CD copier. Have you ever wondered how a CD copier works? In this article, we'll take a look at the specifics involved when you take your favorite songs from one CD and copy them to another.
Standalone CD copiers are designed in a tower format. They contain several CD writers stacked one above the other.
CD copiers, also known as CD burners, are machines that are often included with most desktop and laptop computers. They are also sold as external units, and serve to copy music from one compact disc to another blank compact disc. If you are unfamiliar with how a CD actually works, here is the basic idea. The digital information stored on a compact disc (i.e. music) is interpreted within a standard CD player by a laser that literally "reads" the data on the CD. The laser is actually translating a pattern of "bumps" and "lands" that reaches your ears in the form of your favorite singer or band. While this may seem complex, it is only important to know that when you purchase a CD of your favorite artist, that CD is already encoded with a pattern that will result in the playing of the songs you want to hear. Conversely, a blank CD-R (also known as a CD-recordable disc) does not yet have a pattern of "bumps" and "lands". That leads us into our next question: How does a CD copier work to transfer one pattern onto another blank disc?
By now, you can probably see that the PlexWriter PX-230A represents your best choice when considering an audio CD copier, but you are probably wondering about the cost. Well, this CD copier is one of the most affordable on the market, as it currently retails for $59.
As we just discussed, CD-recordable discs do not have a pattern that can be read by a CD player. What these discs do have, however, is a smooth metal layer that covers a layer of photosensitive dye. This dye is instrumental to the copying process. A CD copier first reads the pattern off the original CD in the same way as a CD player by using an aptly named read laser. It then uses a stronger laser called a write laser, which replicates the pattern of the original CD onto the CD-R. While a read laser is not capable of changing information on a CD, the write laser is strong enough to darken the photosensitive dye, thus altering the surface of the CD-recordable discs. This interaction between a CD copier and a CD-R results in a perfect copy of your favorite compact discs!
Modern CD copiers are called as standalone copiers, because they do not require a computer for attachment. They have a hard disc of their own, which may have a memory of up to 160 GB.
CD copiers enable people to replicate music for several reasons. Whether you want to make a copy for your sweetheart, take a copy on that long road trip, or just compile all of your favorites together on one disc, the wonderful technology behind a CD copier works to make it all possible.
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