A CD-ROM has a similar appearance to an audio CD, and reproduces text, graphics and audio through a computer.CD-ROMs can be played on standard microcomputers with the addition of a CD-ROM drive.
A CD can contain over a thousand times the amount of data previously held on a floppy disce.g. 650 megabytes or 250,000 pages of text.
A strength of the CD-ROM is its ability to store economically vast amounts of data e.g. where the paper Oxford English Dictionary (20 volumes) costs £1,500, the digitised version costs £495.
Companies such as BP and RS are using CD-ROM as a means of storingand distributing their catalogues.
The medium allows the user to search quickly and effectively as well as providing opportunitiesfor some of the information contained in the resources to be advertised through the use of still or moving images.
[Home]CD-i is an entertainment and information system that plays digital data stored on a compact disc.
A CD-i player, similar in appearance to a video recorder, connects to a television or a colour monitor.
A strength of CD-i is its cost effectiveness. At approximately £400 for a unit, that has compatibility with all televisions,this is very competitive compared to the purchase of a computer system.
Further strengths include the ability to deliver full screen, full motion video (FMV) this makes CD-i a more visually oriented platform and particularly appropriate for group usage, especially for training purposes.
CD-i has a universal standard format that ensures that
discs conforming to this standard are capable of being playedon any CD-i
player in the world.
'Plug-in' cards are now available to allow CD-i
discs to be played in a PC & Macintosh.
The use of CD-i in education is most advanced in Scotland where the Education Authorities are encouraging its use as a training/professional development tool as well as a classroom resource.There is a growing acceptance of CD-i as a professional training tool, Video Arts have recently released someof their most popular titles on this format.
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