What is an Enhanced or CD-Extra disc?
Also called “CD Plus,” “ECD”, “Enhanced CD” and “Enhanced CD-ROM,” it is a compact disc format that contains both audio and data. The most common use is to include video or multimedia as the data section of the disc. It uses the multisession capability to store up to 98 audio tracks in the first session and one CD-ROM XA data track in the second session. Audio CD players will play the first session and ignore the second. A multisession CD-ROM drive (all newer drives) will read the last session first, and the software in the data session can cause the audio session to be played. Audio discs created as Enhanced CDs are handled as a “non-standard” audio disc format as these contain both Redbook audio and data on the same disc, the combination of the two also known as Bluebook CD format. These discs are considered specialized audio discs. This type of disc requires special processing in the duplication process. The disc information must be put through a special decoding procedure to extrac
