CD-ROM (an acronym for Compact Disc Read-Only Memory) is an optical media format that was popular in the 1990s. It was superseded by DVD-ROM drives and the Apple SuperDrive in Macs.

Specifications

The Red Book standard for compact discs specified a bit rate of 153,600 bytes (150 KB) per second, referred to as "1x" CD-ROM speed. Audio was encoded in 16-bit resolution at 44.1 kHz. The original standard specified that each disc could contain up to 99 tracks and store 650 MB (74 minutes).^[1] The standard was later amended to allow variances of up to 700 MB (79.8 minutes),^[2] though some drives have allowed for usable capacities as high as 750 MB (85 minutes).^[3]

History

Early Apple CD-ROM mechanisms used SCSI connectors, typically set to ID #3.^[4]

External models

• AppleCD SC (1x speed, model M2850) — required a CD caddy. Introduced in 1988, the internal fan was found to be drawing dust into the CD mechanism which had no external door; it was deemed unnecessary and left out of units manufactured from early 1990.^[5]
• AppleCD SC Plus (1x speed, model M3021) — required a CD caddy. Introduced in 1991, the new drive mechanism added a drive door to keep out dust and could read CDs with more data than the original Red Book standard, up to 750 MB.^[3][6]
• AppleCD 150 (1x speed, model M3022) — smaller enclosure, still required a CD caddy.^[7]
• AppleCD 300 (2x speed, model M3023) — same enclosure as AppleCD 150, still required a CD caddy.^[8] Introduced in 1992.^[9]
• AppleCD 300 Plus (2x speed) — same enclosure as AppleCD 150, but introduced a built-in CD tray and no caddy needed.^[10]
• AppleCD 300e Plus (2x speed, M2918) — included a CD tray, revised enclosure.^[11]
• AppleCD 600e (4x speed, model M3958) — included a CD tray, same enclosure as AppleCD 300e Plus.
• Apple PowerCD (4x speed) — based on Philips CDF-100. Included Photo CD support with built-in audio/video out.^[12]

Internal models

• Apple CR-503-C (2x speed CD-ROM), used in AppleCD 300 Plus.^[10]
• Apple CR-504-C/K (4x speed CD-ROM, a.k.a. AppleCD 600i)
• Apple CR-504-L (4x speed CD-ROM), also used in Bandai's Pippin consoles.^[4]
• Apple CR-506-C (8x speed CD-ROM, a.k.a. AppleCD 1200i)^[13]
• Apple CR-507-C (12x speed CD-ROM, a.k.a. AppleCD 1800i)^[13][14]
• Apple CR-508-C (24x speed CD-ROM)^[15]

Driver software

Classic Mac OS included an Apple CD-ROM extension, which at first only supported Apple-branded hardware. This forced users of drives from other manufactures to resort to using a range of 3rd-party drivers with varying degrees of compatibility. Apple started making its CD-ROM extension "universal" with version 5.3.1, which was included with Mac OS 7.6.^[16]

The Apple CD-ROM extension was superseded by the Apple CD/DVD Driver included with Mac OS 8.1, which again limited compatibility to drives supplied by Apple. However, this could be hacked to support 3rd-party drives.^[16]

References

External links

• Product List: Macintosh Drives & Storage Devices at Apple (1996-09-14, archived 1996-10-17)
  • AppleCD 300e Plus/600e (PDF) by Apple Service Source
• AppleCD 300e Plus at Centre for Computing History
• Apple CD media (1996) by Matt J. Fuller (2020-06-06)
• Apple CD-ROM & Apple CD/DVD Driver Reference at Siber-Sonic
• External Macinosh Drives at Vectronic's Apple World
• AppleCD versions and differences at 68k Macintosh Liberation Army
• 24倍速CD-ROMドライブ by MAISON PiPPiN at GeoCities (Japanese, archived 2002-11-19)
• CD-ROM at the Pippin @World & Atmark Wiki
• AppleCD and CD-ROM at Wikipedia

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