ABSTRACT
Once called "the new papyrus" by Bill Gates, the compact disc-read only memory (CD-ROM) traveled quickly from a repository for vast amounts of text and still pictures to the standard delivery system for most computer entertainment and a large portion of training and industrial applications. With the arrival of the double-speed write/read process and the perfection of the MPEG standard for video compression, jpg still image compression, and various audio and text file compression systems, the CD-ROM as we know it finally emerged. For all the obvious reasons, the CD-ROM is the most ubiquitous of transportable mediums used in multimedia. Because it has become a standard, there are endless lists of software available to produce programs, numerous hardware platforms that support it, and hundreds of vendors who can translate raw data into winning multimedia. Good multimedia can't really tolerate delays like that, so graphic files are designed both size- and palette-wise with delivery time in mind.
