How A Stereo CD Player Works

If you are confused about how a stereo cd player works, remember that it functions in the same way any other kind of CD player works. Every CD player operates with three components to read data from the nearly invisible bumps on the shiny side of each CD. These components are the drive motor, the tracking device, and the lens system . Here is what each component does to make a stereo CD player work:

1. Drive Motor. The drive motor is that little whirring noise you can hear coming from some stereo CD players. It rotates the disc to speeds of 200-500 rpm (revolutions per minute). This is the speed necessary for the lens system to read the data.
2. Lens System. The lens system uses lasers to read the data from the bumps on the CD. The laser beam is angled on the CD and reflects the data back to the sensor. The changes in the beam, according to the bumps it has read, are what are turned into the music of the stereo CD player. This process is achieved through the use of a digital-to-analog converter.
3. Tracking Device. The tracking device in your stereo CD player helps guide the laser along the data tracks of the CD. Think of it as the cross-hair through which the lens system shoots its laser.

All CD players operate with these three basic components. Now that you know how a stereo CD player works, you can apply these same principles to CD players in other systems as well. For example, these three components are also found in video game CDs, whether a computer game or an Xbox game, and they are also in place when you are uploading music to your computer from a CD. The drive motor, lens system, and tracking device are crucial components to advancing how we store and read all kinds of data.