I see the following acronyms in computer adverts, but could someone explain the significance?

CD-R
CD-RW

DVD-R
DVD+R
DVD-RW
DVD+RW

I also see something like "48X/24X/48X/16X" when describing speed of CD/DVD players. How do I interprete this?

Thanks.

CD-R is CD Writable or CD Writer, the CD is read only after writing.
CD-RW is a ReWritable CD, many writes may be done.

DVD-R
DVD-RW same as above for DVDs (digital video disks)

The + and - for DVDs indicate different standards for writing to the disk

the 16x is the speed of the CD. At 1x the speed of the disk is 44KHz, the rest are multiples of that. Speeds writen like 48x/24x/12x refer to the read/write/rewrite speeds.

to put this in simple terms ;)

the 16x is the speed of the CD. At 1x the speed of the disk is 44KHz, the rest are multiples of that. Speeds writen like 48x/24x/12x refer to the read/write/rewrite speeds.

just think of it like this, the higher the number, the faster the cd will be burned, and be read :D got it now?

ive been told that the re writable cds last for less time and are more prone to error than the non re writable. course when i ask my brother why he just tells me thats just the way it is -p
anyhow, the + and - thing - i believe it came about because of competition between the companies who created the first burners; no real difference between the two except that theyre generaly not compatable (ie most burners will only burn to one or the other)

My own burner has an incredably difficult time burning the re writable dvds and cds, duno why; it seems to be fine with non re writables though; its supposed to work with both.