Introduction into Disc Types

Depending on the data storage mechanism all discs can be divided into the following groups:

Magnetic discs include aluminum discs (used for early radio recordings), floppy disks
(devices using a flexible disc), hard disk drives (non-volatile magnetic data storage
devices), gramophone records.

RAM discs are volatile solid state drives.

Long-playing records, or vinyl discs, are analog records, which served as a primary
release format for recorded music, until the compact disc began to significantly displace
them in the 1980s.

Optical discs include CD, DVD, Blu-ray etc. The detailed description of these optical
disc types you can find in the Appendix section.

Classification of Optical Discs

Optical discs can be classified by data type stored on them:

Data discs can contain files of any type: document files (.txt, .html, .doc, .odt, etc.), audio
files (.mp3, .wma, .wav, etc.), video files (.avi, .mov, .mpeg, etc.), image files (.png,
.jpg, .gif, etc.) and so on.
Note: even if you create a disc containing only video files in such formats like
.avi, .mp4 etc., it will be called a data disc. As many home DVD/BD players do not have
the ability to play such video files, they are not considered to be video discs.

Video discs contain both audio and video signals and have a specific folders structure.
They store DVD or Blu-ray video of a special format supporting features such as menus,
selectable subtitles, multiple camera angles and multiple audio tracks. Such discs can be
played back in all home DVD/BD players.

Audio CD discs are designed to be used in a consumer audio CD recorder, which use
Serial Copy Management System (SCMS), an early form of Digital Rights Management
(DRM). Audio tracks on such a disc have the .cda extension. Audio CD discs are
formatted in tracks, and the track numbers, index points and CD time code are encoded
into the lead-in of the audio CD disc, and these reference points are found throughout the
audio CD sub-channel.

Bootable discs are removable digital data storage media, from which a computer can load
and run an operating system or utility program. Bootable disks are used for:
o operating system installation,
o data recovery,
o data purging (removal of sensitive data from a system or storage device with the
intent that the data can not be reconstructed by any known technique),
o hardware or software troubleshooting,
o customizing an operating environment,
o software demonstration,
o administrative access in case of lost password,
o games;
o etc.
Floppy disks and CD-ROMs are the most common forms of media used, but other media,
such as magnetic or paper tape drives, zip drives, and more recently USB flash drives can
be used. The computer's BIOS must support booting from a certain device.
A modern PC is configured to attempt to boot from various devices in a certain order. If
your computer is not booting from the device you desire, such as the floppy drive, you
may have to enter the BIOS setup function by pressing a special key when the computer
is first turned on and then changing the boot order.

What are the main differences between audio, MP3, and data CDs using
RealPlayer CD burning?

Below are the main differences between using RealPlayer's CD-burning feature to create audio,
MP3, or data CDs. For instructions on selecting the format before burning your CD, click here.
Audio CDs:
- Audio CDs can be burned using either the free RealPlayer or RealPlayer Plus.
- Audio CDs have a maximum length of 74 minutes due to the uncompressed wave file format.
- Audio CDs can be played in standard audio CD players, DVD players, and computer CD-ROM
drives. (Note: CD-R audio discs can be played on any standard CD player, but not all CD players
can play CD-RW audio discs.)

- Free features for audio CDs include options to add CD Text and a 2-second gap between tracks.
Plus features include Crossfade and Audio Filters.
- The default writing method for audio CDs is Disk-At-Once (DAO) writing. If your CD-burning
drive does not support DAO, or if you have selected Track-At-Once (TAO) writing, RealPlayer
uses TAO writing instead.
MP3 CDs:
- To burn MP3 CDs, you need to have purchased and signed in to RealPlayer Plus.
- If your file is not already in MP3 file format, RealPlayer converts it to MP3 format.
- The compressed format allows MP3 CDs to hold 4 to 12 hours of audio files (depending on the
bitrate--a large bitrate such as 320 kbps takes up more space than a lower bitrate such as 128
kbps).
- MP3 CDs can be played in MP3 players and computer CD-ROMs (or any CD player that
supports MP3 playback), but not in standard CD players.
- MP3 CDs require enough hard drive free space to copy all queued files to a temporary folder
before burning.
- MP3 CDs offer features such as playlist creation and directory structure based on Artist or
Album name.
- MP3 CDs are burned using Track-At-Once (TAO) writing.
Data CDs:
- This mode is intended primarily for storage and backup of media files.
- Burned files are left in original format.
- Data CDs can be accessed by computer CD-ROMs and CD players that support the data
filetypes on the CD.
- Data CDs are burned using Track-At-Once (TAO) writing.
Selecting a format
After clicking the Burn tab at the top of RealPlayer, you will see a list of Tasks on the left. Click
on Task 1, Select CD Type, and click the button next to the type you wish to burn, as shown in
the image below: