# 52x = the end of the line?? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [January 15, 2003, 2:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/52x-the-end-of-the-line/148735 "2003-01-15T14:18:25Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![bensonGemini](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/eb9ed0/32.png) [@bensonGemini](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bensonGemini)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2003, 2:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/52x-the-end-of-the-line/148735/1 "2003-01-15T14:18:25Z")
[http://anandtech.com/storage/showdoc.html?i=1772](http://anandtech.com/storage/showdoc.html?i=1772) Says here that people are claiming 52x is the end of the line for CD burning speed. From the very beginning, I always put my money in this particular industry because I thought that they would keep pushing until CD burning is instant. We still have to wait a minute and a half for a full CD. The 52x quoted on this drive isn’t even constant. My question is… why would 52x be the upper limit on CD burning speed? Surely professional CD makers… that make music CDs and stuff dont take a minute per CD do they? That would take forever! Wouldn’t it? To make that many? Thanks Eric ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2003, 2:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/52x-the-end-of-the-line/148735/2 "2003-01-15T14:23:59Z")
Music CDs aren’t burned, they are _pressed_, just like vinyl. 52x may well be the top speed because spinning a CD at greater rpm than that might cause it to fail mechanically. ---
**Author:** ![Dunderman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ecb155/32.png) [@Dunderman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dunderman)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2003, 2:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/52x-the-end-of-the-line/148735/3 "2003-01-15T14:25:53Z")
First of all, I don’t see them saying that 52x is the fastest possible burn speed. I’m sure it’s not. Second of all (and not quite sticking to the subject), do you really _need_ faster burn speeds? If you can burn a CD in a minute, when would you possibly need to burn faster? Third of all, professional CD makers have automated the process. If a single CD takes a minute to burn, that doesn’t matter because they don’t have an employee clicking the “Create CD” button every time they burn one. Blank CDs go in, music CDs come out. If they need more CDs burned, they get another burner. ---
**Author:** ![friedo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8edcca/32.png) [@friedo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/friedo)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2003, 2:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/52x-the-end-of-the-line/148735/4 "2003-01-15T14:27:13Z")
In order to burn at faster speeds, the disc needs to spin faster. Eventually, it will be spinning so fast that the writing laser won’t have enough time to burn it properly. CD production houses aren’t using the same kind of technology for producing consumer CDs; the process for creating those goes much faster. ---
**Author:** ![bensonGemini](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/eb9ed0/32.png) [@bensonGemini](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bensonGemini)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2003, 2:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/52x-the-end-of-the-line/148735/5 "2003-01-15T14:38:41Z")
> **[AnandTech: Hardware News and Tech Reviews Since 1997](https://www.anandtech.com/)** > > News and reviews of PC components, smartphones, tablets, pre-built desktops, notebooks, Macs and enterprise/cloud computing technologies. "Many people are claiming CDRW drives won’t get any faster than 52X. This really is the end of the line for the CDRW drive, although it will be some time before they are phased out entirely. " This was the article’s abstract. Do we neeed faster computers? Do we neeed more hard drive space? Do we neeed more memory? Wasn’t it Bill Gates who said that famous line… “640k should be enough for anybody”. A minute is a minute. And I want instant! Is it the end of the line because companies are focusing the shift to DVD burners instead? And what about the possibility of bringing CD production house technology into the consumer market? ---
**Author:** ![Cubsfan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f4b2a3/32.png) [@Cubsfan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cubsfan)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2003, 2:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/52x-the-end-of-the-line/148735/6 "2003-01-15T14:39:29Z")
I don’t think its the laser that’s the issue. When these thigns start spinning at massive RPMS you are going to have some SERIOUS shaking in the drive. Enough to shake the drive apart I reckon. ---
**Author:** ![nightshadea](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/7ba0ec/32.png) [@nightshadea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nightshadea)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2003, 2:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/52x-the-end-of-the-line/148735/7 "2003-01-15T14:56:43Z")
Also cd burners are going to be phased out with in the next few years by dvd roms burners … And youll never see cd production house style burners cuase they cant get it cheap enough for the home market for another 10 years or so and by that time it will be outdated anyways And really the public market and some tech gurus are saying they need to slow down developement on speeds of things in computers and let software ect catch up But unless they make cds able to hold more they havent seen a reason to make them faster than the highest current speed ---
**Author:** ![Shagnasty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9dc877/32.png) [@Shagnasty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shagnasty)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2003, 2:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/52x-the-end-of-the-line/148735/8 "2003-01-15T14:59:33Z")
It is not just the drives themselves shaking like crazy. Any faster than 52x, you will actually get an occasional CD that will fracture and fly apart and the resulting shards will usually ruin the drive. This would be a recall nightmare for the manufacturer even if it only happened a few times so they just don’t risk it. ---
**Author:** ![JeffB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jeffb/32/188_2.png) [@JeffB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JeffB)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2003, 3:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/52x-the-end-of-the-line/148735/9 "2003-01-15T15:05:58Z")
That would be interesting to watch, though. ---
**Author:** ![SlickRoenick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e68b1a/32.png) [@SlickRoenick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SlickRoenick)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2003, 3:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/52x-the-end-of-the-line/148735/10 "2003-01-15T15:06:00Z")
How many mph or rpm is 52x anyway? ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2003, 3:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/52x-the-end-of-the-line/148735/11 "2003-01-15T15:09:14Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by bensonGemini \* > \*\*And what about the possibility of bringing CD production house technology into the consumer market? \*\* As I mentioned, mass-produced CDs (like your Windows install disk or your _Automatic For The People_ album) are not burned en masse, but are _pressed_ from an etched original; there’s just no way to do this in your living room; the tooling itself is massive and probably hideously expensive, it is only really suited to large runs and I’m pretty sure it needs to be operated in a clean-room setup. ---
**Author:** ![Whack-a-Mole](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/whack-a-mole/32/141_2.png) [@Whack-a-Mole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Whack-a-Mole)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2003, 3:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/52x-the-end-of-the-line/148735/12 "2003-01-15T15:11:33Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Shagnasty \* > \*\*Any faster than 52x, you will actually get an occasional CD that will fracture and fly apart and the resulting shards will usually ruin the drive. \*\* This is mostly the issue. The laser can read info faster but the CD media itself isn’t manufactured to handle such high speeds. For instance, if the hole on the CD is just a _teeny_ bit off center you will get massive shaking of the CD in the drive. Additionally the plastic CDs are made from may crack and break under the stress of spinning so fast (as already mentioned). If you want faster CD speeds you’ll need to redesign the CD itself. New materials and finer tolerances would be necessary. This, of course, would raise the price of your CD a fair amount. So, you want to burn a CD in an instant rather than a minute? Fine. Would you still want to do so if the minute CD costs $0.75 for the media and the instant burn CD cost $7.99? ---
**Author:** ![dead0man](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/edb3f5/32.png) [@dead0man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dead0man)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2003, 3:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/52x-the-end-of-the-line/148735/13 "2003-01-15T15:12:35Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by nightshadea \* > \*\*But unless they make cds able to hold more they havent seen a reason to make them faster than the highest current speed \*\* They did, they are called DVD’s. Ok, thats a bit of a stretch. The tech behind them both are basically the same, DVDs just have a “tighter” laser. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2003, 3:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/52x-the-end-of-the-line/148735/14 "2003-01-15T15:15:03Z")
The future is probably solid-state storage anyway (and people of the future will have robot assistants to sit and operate their Adaptec software) ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2003, 3:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/52x-the-end-of-the-line/148735/15 "2003-01-15T15:26:24Z")
Info on how CDs are commercially mass-duplicated may be found here: [http://www.discusa.com/cdref/cd\_manufacturing.htm](http://www.discusa.com/cdref/cd_manufacturing.htm) ---
**Author:** ![Wikkit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c0e974/32.png) [@Wikkit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wikkit)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2003, 3:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/52x-the-end-of-the-line/148735/16 "2003-01-15T15:38:11Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Muldoon III \* > \*\*How many mph or rpm is 52x anyway? \*\* 140 to 160 MPH, constant linear velocity. That’s the speed the part that’s being read or written is moving past the lens, so the rotation rate is different depending on which part of the disc is being read or written. That’s assuming that it is actually going fifty-two times faster than a normal CD, and not using some sort of buffering or other EE geek trick to just make it seem that fast. ---
**Author:** ![bensonGemini](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/eb9ed0/32.png) [@bensonGemini](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bensonGemini)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2003, 3:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/52x-the-end-of-the-line/148735/17 "2003-01-15T15:39:17Z")
How fast is current consumer DVD burning technology? ---
**Author:** ![Finagle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/b19c9b/32.png) [@Finagle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Finagle)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2003, 4:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/52x-the-end-of-the-line/148735/18 "2003-01-15T16:21:59Z")
It’s not a very hard limit as you can always add additional lasers and write in parallel. (This has been done at least with CD-readers.) It’s more expensive so you’d have to have a pretty pressing reason to want to do it. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2003, 4:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/52x-the-end-of-the-line/148735/19 "2003-01-15T16:26:38Z")
I would think it would be slightly harder to _write_ using multiple lasers as each of the lasers would be writing to a part of the disc that was passing by at a different speed; not an insurmountable problem, I expect, but certainly a complication. ---
**Author:** ![handy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b5a626/32.png) [@handy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/handy)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2003, 4:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/52x-the-end-of-the-line/148735/20 "2003-01-15T16:39:07Z")
dvd writers are topping about 4x now, faster ones are coming, but the price of 4x +r disks are high. -r 4x are more reasonable. I don’t think a 4x dvd writer = a 4x cdwriter. 52x cdrw drives have reinforced front faceplates, I read, in order to keep the disks from flying out (would that be interesting to see?). [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/52x-the-end-of-the-line/148735.md?page=2)