How CD Burners Work

With the rise of the MP3 format, burning your own music CDs has never been so popular -- or so easy. CDs have become one of the most widely adopted data-storage mechanisms.

How do CD-R discs work?

Normal CDs cannot be modified -- they are read-only devices. But a CD-R disc needs to allow the drive to write data onto the disc. What's different about the CD-R?

How does a Zip drive store so much more data than a floppy drive?

The main thing that separates a Zip disk from a floppy disk is the magnetic coating used on the disk. How does this coating make such an impact on the disk's storage space?

Why can I play some DVD movies but not others on my computer DVD-ROM?

DVD movies have region codes, and they typically only play on a player or DVD-ROM drive sold in the country where the DVD movie was sold. Find out why and how they're produced this way.