What are these "x" speeds about in CD-ROM drives, DVD-ROM
drives, CD-RW drives, and digital camera memory cards? Well, here's a
rundown:
In CD-ROM drives, the X means "times the 150 KBps speed of the
original CD-ROM drive specification." So a 4X CD-ROM drive moves
600 KBps (kilobytes per second)
CD-ReWritable drives use three X measures: one for Write speed, one for Rewrite
speed, and one for Playback speed, using the same value for X (150Kbps).
Therefore, 8X x 4X x 32X means 1200 KBps when writing on CD-Recordable
discs, 600 KBps
when erasing and writing again on CD-ReWritable discs, and 4800 KBps when reading
any CD-ROM disc
In DVD-ROM drives, the X means ten times CD-ROM. A 5X DVD-ROM drive can read
discs at 7500 KBps
X in memory cards refers to the same 150 Kbps as in CD drives, so a typical
4X memory card stores pictures at 600 KBps and the fastest 12X at 1800 KBps
(or 1.8 MBps)
The point? Faster is generally better in any drive, though not if you have to
pay too much for it and not if the other system components hold down the speed
anyway.
