CDR was introduced around 5 years ago, but really only became affordable over the last two years. This has increased its popularity to an extent where its use has started to spark issues relating to the reproduction of copyrighted material. This has started to have a negative economical effect on the music industry. I will address the issue of piracy later in this report. CDs have become a cost effective industry standard when it comes to storing data.

Some terms that you will encounter throughout this report are:

 CD-ROM - Compact Disk Read Only Memory, (non recordable CD)

 CDR - Recordable Compact Dis

CDR is the most efficient for storing large amounts of data at a cost that is lower then any other removable, random-access medium. Although CDR only writes once onto a disk then closes it, it's low media costs make this it feasible to create new copies when required.

In both of these cases, the Internet plays a large role. Due to the accessibility the Internet, it is very easy to download copies of music and software. Then using CDR, create your own replica of the original material.

I found that cartridge drives like Iomega's Zip and Jaz drives are priced comparably to writable CR-ROM drives, but CD-ROM disks typically cost from $3 to $10 each, while a 1gig Jaz cartridge costs over $100. Also if you want to transport data the other system must have the same type of drive, this is less likely for cartridges, as there is no industry standard for cartridge data formats. CDs also have a longer shelf life then tapes or cartridges.

Piracy is widespread, economically effecting record companies and producers alike. The laws in relation to copying CDs are not specific at all. In America a blank CD has a $10 levy incorporated into the price, this money goes toward record companies and producers, and entitles people to copy CDs for their own personal use. In Australia however, there is no levy so no such rule applies. In the manual of the Philips CDR 870 Compact Disk Recorder it reads: "Important. It is a criminal offence under applicable copyright laws, to make unauthorised copies of copyrighted material, including computer programs, films, broadcasts and sound recordings. This equipment should not be used for such purposes." However on the opposite page it says: "Subject to certain legal constraints on copying, you can make your own CDs." This illustrates that the laws are not precise. One thing is sure though, piracy of copyrighted CDs of any kind be it audio or data, does effect the owners of the copyrighted material and therefor is at least morally wrong.

The ability to create CDs has negatively effected the music industry tremendously. Piracy has increased, allowing illegally reproduced copies of music to be created and sold at the expense of the owner of the original material. More often then not these pirate copies go undetected, but due the severity o

Some common words found in the essay are:
CD Writers, Writer Burner, CD Writer, Disk Recorder, Zip Jaz, Compact Disk, Re-Writable CD's, Medium Floppy, Piracy Piracy, Werribee According, copyrighted material, create own, floppy disks, cd writer, compact disk, floppy disk, 3 1/2 inch, industry standard, 3 1/2, cd writers, 1/2 inch, microsoft corporation rights, 1993-1997 microsoft corporation, corporation rights reserved, create own cds,
Approximate Word count = 1534
Approximate Pages = 6 (250 words per page double spaced)