How Are CDs Manufactured?
Introduction Compact discs (CDs) are the storing medium that came along and replace the traditional LP. The technology behind compact discs began in early 1979, however the first commercially available album released on CD wasn’t until Billy Joel’s 52nd Street in 1982. Compact discs are optical discs that are 120 mm in diameter. A standard disc can old 80 minutes of audio or 700 MB of data. Since its conception, the CD has spawned an entire generation of adapted technology. From the basic setup of the CD came the CD-R, CD-RW, DVD, DVD-R, DVD-RW and mini-discs. Manufacturing CDs requires seven very defined steps: glass mastering, electroplating, stamping, molding, metallization, lacquering, printing and packaging. Glass Mastering The first process that is completed to manufacture a CD is glass mastering. The CD is molded and smashed in the premastering step. Then, in an enclosed clean environment, glass in used to keep the CD master image while it is created in a glass substrate. The gl
