A Compact disk is an optical disk used for recording, storing and playing audio signals.

An audio disc is recorded by converting the analogous data into digital which can be stored easily and hence can be read and can be converted back into the analogous form. The storage of data that can later be processed and converted back into the original form is a two step process consisting of sampling and quantization. Sampling: an audio signal has varying amplitude with time. The amplitude of the wave is supposed to be stored (noted) after every time interval in a way that the loss of data is minimum. We know that the human ear can hear up to the frequency of 20 kHz and according to the and according to the Nyquist criterion if the rate of sampling is double than that ten there is practically no loss of audio data. Quantization; It is a process of approximation of a continuous range of values over the number system to a discrete set of closest numbers or integers. Now whatever values are sampled are actually converted into discrete integers which have a range of 216 values for a particular sample. Now this data is stored on the film of a disc in bits as digital signal. Then the laser on the cd rom reads the digital data and the information is sent to the decoder which processes it and converts it into analogous data and send it to the loud speakers The noise is kept minimum using a digital filter. Vinyl records were widely used before the audio cds came into being. They store the data in analogous form . These are made of poly-vinyl-chloride or PVC .In a vinyl record there is a sharp needle that moves on the surface of the record follows the spiral grooves on its surface and converts the oscillations in its positions to produce electrical signals and send them to the loud speakers .they have a speed of 33 45 rpm..They are much less durable and do mot have large data storage capacities. The cd is an obvious choice over a vinyl record given that the data is not easily damaged even if the cd gets scratched in comparison to a vinyl record which actually derives the electrical signals from the grooves on the surface of the film.The cd and has a life of 20 to 100 years depending on the quality. It is much more potable and handy and can store larger information. http://pwatlas.mt.umist.ac.uk/internetmicroscope/micrographs/storage/vinyl.html http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Compact_Disc#References http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bytes http://library.thinkquest.org/26171/gforce.html