How do you burn info onto a CD and how does a CD player read a CD?

Answer 1

Information is applied to CDs by taking a laser and burning grooves into a disk. CD players must sense this groove in order to be able to extract information from the disk. This is also why scratches on compact disks may interfere with the information stored on the disk.

Answer 2To burn information onto a CD, you must have a special recordable disc,

(a CD-R) a machine that is capable of recording and software to care of the process.

Latest versions of Microsoft Windows are already equipped with the burning software, once a recordable disc drive is detected. You can also use other burning software such as 'Nero'.

Commercial, pre-recorded, discs are mechanically stamped with the pits that the laser can read.

Laser light reflected off the disc, is picked up by optical lenses and mirrors. The changes in reflection from the pits in the metal foil can be read as 1's and 0's for processing by a computer and returned as data or music.

The clear plastic coating over the metal foil protects the indents on the disc.

Recordable media is different. There is a special coating inside the disc, which can be affected by a high power laser. In record mode, the special laser heats the crystal structure which then takes up a different crystal arrangement.

The laser and optics reading the disc, can detect the minute crystal structure and read the data as 1's and 0's.

CD-R discs can only record once.

CD-RW discs can record and re-record several times.

CD-RW use magetism, to redirect the crystal structure during the burning phase and it is reversible.