lauren@RAND-UNIX.ARPA (07/21/85)
The basic idea of the CD technology was for AUDIO -- the idea of CD-ROMs came somewhat later. The basic technology makes a variety of specific demands on the playback systems--lenses, mirrors, distances, focal lengths, wavelengths, etc. You can only change these within very narrow limits and still read the discs. Of course, someone could go off and design another system that works a different way... but the only thing that keeps the costs of the players, and especially of the mastering, to reasonable levels is the MASS volume represented by audio CD manufacturing and playback. Any new system is unlikely to be able to approach those volumes. It's pretty easy to master a CD-ROM, since you can (essentially) use the same production line that you use for audio disks--just substitute a 9 track tape for the usual U-MATIC cassette (SONY PCM-1610 format) used for audio CD input sourcing. Still, the equipment to do this stuff is NOT CHEAP and only becomes reasonable when you're dealing with high volumes. --Lauren--