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10th June 2001
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  • Orange Book III - the ingenious breakthrough
  • Modern Robin Hoods or just plain theft?
  • Orange Book III - the ingenious breakthrough

    CD-RW drives are dual-function, offering both CD-R and CD-RW recording, so the user can choose which recordable media is going to be the best for a particular job

    The birth of the re- writable CD is a result of a collaboration between Hewlett-Packard, Mitsubishi Chemical Corporation, Philips, Ricoh and Sony. Known as Orange Book III, it is probably the most ingenious breakthrough since they invented 'reusable clothes', if you know what I mean.

    A CD-RW disc's phase-change medium consists of a polycarbonate substrate, moulded with a spiral groove for servo guidance, absolute time information and other data, onto which a stack (usually five layers) is deposited. The recording layer is sandwiched between dielectric layers that draw excess heat from the phase-change layer during the writing process. In place of the CD-R disc's dye-based recording layer, CD-RW commonly uses a crystalline compound made up of a mix of silver, indium, antimony and tellurium. This rather exotic mix has a very special property: when it's heated to one temperature and cooled it becomes crystalline, but if it's heated to a higher temperature, when it cools down again it becomes amorphous.

    The crystalline areas allow the metalised layer to reflect the laser better while the non-crystalline portion absorbs the laser beam, so it is not reflected. In order to achieve these effects in the recording layer, the CD-Rewritable recorder uses three different laser powers.

    The highest laser power, is called 'Write Power'. This creates a non-crystalline (absorptive) state on the recording layer. The middle power, also known as 'Erase Power', melts the recording layer and converts it to a reflective crystalline state. The lowest power, which is 'Read Power', does not alter the state of the recording layer, so it can be used for reading the data. During writing, a focused 'Write Power' laser beam selectively heats areas of the phase-change material above the melting temperature (500-700 C), so all the atoms in this area can move rapidly in the liquid state. Then, if cooled sufficiently quickly, the random liquid state is 'frozen-in' and the so-called amorphous state is obtained.

    The amorphous version of the material shrinks, leaving a pit where the laser dot was written, resulting in a recognisable CD surface. When an 'Erase Power' laser beam heats the phase-change layer to below the melting temperature but above the crystallisation temperature (200 C) for a sufficient time, the atoms revert back to an ordered state (i.e. the crystalline state). Writing takes place in a single pass of the focused laser beam. Once the data has been burned the amorphous areas reflect less light, enabling a 'Read Power' laser beam to detect the difference between the lands and the pits on the disk.

    One compromise here is that the disc reflects less light than CD-ROMs or CD-Rs and consequently CD-RW discs can only be read on CD players that support the new MultiRead specification. Even DVD-ROM drives, which themselves use the UDF file format, need a dual-wavelength head to read CD-RW. CD-RW drives are dual-function, offering both CD-R and CD-RW recording, so the user can choose which recordable media is going to be the best for a particular job. 

    Although it allows users to drag and drop files to discs, CD-RW isn't quite as easy to use as a hard disk. A disc could be used until all its capacity was used, but then the entire disc had to be erased to reclaim its storage space using a 'sequential erase' function. Evolution of the UDF standard and developments in associated driver software have improved things considerably, making CD-RW behave more like (but still not quite identical to) hard drives or floppy disks. Universal Disc Format UDF allows files to be added to a CD-R or CD-RW disc incrementally, one file at a time, without significant wasted overhead, using a technique called packet writing.

    At the end of each packet-writing session, UDF writes a Virtual Allocation Table (VAT) to the disc that describes the physical locations of each file. The major drawback is that the fixed-length packets (of 32KB as per the UDF standard), take up a great deal of space on the disc. The available capacity of a CD-RW disc formatted for writing in fixed-length packets is reduced to about 550MB. In practice, however, the capacity of a UDF-formatted disc is reduced still further.

    Any particular spot on a CD-RW disc can be erased and rewritten about 1000 times (soon to be improved to 10,000). After that, that particular spot becomes unusable. However, "DirectCD" is designed to avoid the same physical location being repeatedly written to and erased, using a technique called 'sparing'. This significantly extends the life of a disc, but at the cost of an overhead which reduces effective storage capacity. Even if a particular location on a CD-RW disc does get 'burned out', DirectCD can mark it 'unusable' and work around it (much the way bad sectors are managed on a hard disk). Consequently, it is highly unlikely that a CD-RW disc will become worn out literally and metaphorically.


    Modern Robin Hoods or just plain theft?

    'Steal from the rich and give to the poor". The rich in this instance are multinational software companies, and the poor is represented by us. It is formally known as illicit procurement of intellectual property, but we call it piracy. We all probably have done it or still do it, unintentionally or otherwise.

    The last time you rented a movie, got a cassette recorded with your favorite songs or simply jumped at that game CD bargain... well there you have it! Piracy galore. The last time you used your computer, wonder where all the software came from? Not from the guys who originally made it surely, because if that were so either you're a millionaire or it left you broke. Yup, it's all around us and most of us are right in it.

    Well if we could afford it who'd say no to those original music albums? But we can't! So feeling quite justified we go ahead thinking, "Heck these companies are rich enough to spare me the third world dude a few hundred dollars worth of whatever."

    But coming down to ground zero it is still wrong, we are taking what is not ours and that's stealing. Well this isn't a perfect world and. And hey that's up to you.

    Sent in by Shazard Izzadeen 


    Feel the beat with modern day heroes of music

    By Ranidu Lankage
    Music is one of the most universal mediums man uses to express himself. In expressing these ideas, one objective of music has always been to make people dance as well as listen. 

    Some modern day heroes of the future music revolution, have created a unique sound with the sole intention of making people dance. They have proved that a piece of music does not need lyrics to become a hit. 

    "Children" was the monster Euro dance hit of 1996. It was the single which brought an Italian dream house DJ named Robert Miles out of relative obscurity into spotlight of the music world. The song was an unlikely hit because of the fact that it was totally a piano driven instrumental and was not very fast compared with the extremely frantic hard house you would generally hear in Italian clubs and raves during the '90s. 

    Miles admitted later that he produced the single with a view to curb the then rising deaths within the young Italian rave community due to youngsters literally dancing to death at Raves under the influence of alcohol. 

    Miles was born Roberto Concina in 1969 to a military family stationed in Switzerland. He then migrated to his native Italy at the age of 10 and settled down in the city of Fagagna. 

    He then started to study the piano as a teen and also started DJing at social gatherings when he was around 15. By the late '80s Miles was spinning hardcore trance sets at Venice area clubs under the name of Robert Milani eventually adopting the name Miles as a symbol of the musical journey awaiting him. In time he assembled a basic studio system comprising a sampler, mixer, keyboard and 32-track digital board, accepting production work with the Italian label Metromax. 

    Miles' first single 'Children' was actually inspired by a series of photographs his father took when he was stationed in war torn Yugoslavia. After its release came the follow-up singles 'Fable' and 'One and one' which were fine tracks in their own right. Then came his first LP named 'Dreamland' due to the dreamy ambient nature of his tracks. 

    Miles has also resurfaced in 1997 with 23 AM and has a brand new album out named SALT.

    Sash!( real name Sasha Lappersen) has been on every dance chart since 1997. 

    Starting out in 1995 with the help of Thomas Ludke and Ralf Kappmeier, he produced the dance floor hit "It's my life" followed by the smash hit single "Encore une fois". 

    Then came "Equador" and "Stay" which were huge hits. 

    His second album "Life goes on" was also a smash album. Hits such as "La Primavera" and "Mysterious Times" lifted off this album improved Sash's popularity in Europe and around the world. The latest album "Trillenium" showcased the abilities of Sash! as a hardcore trance producer and also brought out hits such as "Adalante" which became a No.2 hit in the UK. 

    The summer sound of 1999 was defined and dominated by one man popularly known as Atb (real name Andre Tannerberger). The tone of a synthetic guitar enhanced with a high amount of reverb, being pitch blended in the most odd fashion was his trademark sound. This sound was the backbone of the biggest dance track, which hit the world for some time -9pm (Till I come). The track made it to almost all the pop charts across the globe and became a No. 1 hit in the UK. Andre came across this sound while showing his girlfriend around his studio. He started playing some demos and suddenly came up with this amazing guitar sound and voila! the sound of Atb was created. 

    He developed the melody into a song that he finished at 9 p.m. hence the name of the track. Inspired by the success of 9pm, Andre recorded his follow-up single "Don't stop" which also hit the UK Top 10. Then he remixed the Adamski classic "Killer" and took it to No.3 in the UK. A few weeks later he released his debut album as Atb, which was titled "Movin' melodies". 

    Atb has been successful not only as a producer but as a remixer too, having made tracks of orbital, moby and AHA for the dance floors. 

    The beginnings of Atb though came in his bedroom, where he composed tracks using an Amiga computer and a small synthesizer. Then he met one of his major influences DJ Thomas Kukula who was impressed with Andre's efforts and rendered the services of his studio in polishing these tracks up. This is where Andre came across a synthesizer called the sequential one, which is what he called himself until he became Atb. 

    Atb also has a second studio album out called "Two worlds" and as the name suggests it is a compilation of two albums, one being a digression into dance and the other a totally new chill-out album. This also includes collaboration with artists such as Enigma, York and he even has the lead singer of the Canadian rock band "Wild Strawberries" singing a tune in his album. (This is a definite hit concept!) Last but not least we come to the most entrancing and wonderfully engineered sound to hit the dance world by storm. This is the unique and unmistakably trancy sound of Darude.

    His first single "Sandstorm" was undoubtedly the biggest dance track of 2000 and hit No. 3 in the UK; this is also the highest chart position achieved by a Finnish artist in the UK. 

    Darude whose real name is Ville Vertanen discovered dance music through the radio and started composing only about five years ago using tracker programs installed in his PC. He soon converted to samplers and modules and started composing tracks. Darude was then discovered by the Finnish dance artiste\producer Jacko Salvera (a.k.a JS 16) who formed the record label named 16 inch records and signed him on. 

    The song Sandstorm, which was the first single release from the label became an instant hit with the DJs. His second release "Feel the beat" has also done brilliantly going close to platinum status in the UK and his album "Before the storm" which in his words includes something old, something new, something borrowed and something blue is now out in stores. 


    Ready to rock?

    In the mood for 100% pure, unadulterated hard rock? Then the Rock Cafe's the place to be as Independent Square,featured on our Mirror cover today, takes over on June 16, 9 p.m onwards. One time winners of the TNL band competition, Independent Square is well known among fellow rockers for their original music, which they will perform together with some surprises they have in store for the audience. 

    Under the name 'Independent Square presents Bring Back The Sun', this performance sees the launch of the group's debut album 'Bring Back The Sun'. The album features the band's original music including their more popular hits like Anger, Egocentric and Poison on a Tray. Electronic media sponsor for the event is TNL Radio. 


    Gibson reads Shyamalan's 'Signs'

    Bruce Willis may have willfully shed his action fa‡ade for M. Night Shyamalan's last two movies, The Sixth Sense and Unbreakable, but the writer-director is tapping another blockbuster hero to take the lead in his latest tale of the supernatural. Mel Gibson is in talks to star in Signs, a suspenser about crop circles that mysteriously appear on a family's farmland, Daily Variety reported. 

    Shyamalan has allegedly been eyeing Gibson for the role for weeks, Variety said. He apparently read the script last week.

    The Sixth Sense and Unbreakable have a combined gross of more than $900 million worldwide. Disney paid the Oscar-nominated Shyamalan $3 million for his Sense script, followed by a $10 million deal to write and direct Unbreakable _ which included a record-setting $5 million for the superhero-themed film's script. (Mr. Showbiz is owned by the Walt Disney Company.) Signs takes place in Shyamalan's home town of Philadelphia, where his previous two flicks were based. The son of doctors, Shyamalan was born in India but grew up not far from the Philly metro area, Variety notes. 

    Production on Signs is slated to begin this fall. 

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