Dash in 'CD-R'?

I see DVD disks come + and - (e.g. DVD+RW).
I see CD disks come only - (e.g. CD-RW)
What does the dash (minus?) stand for in the latter?

Thanks

Jethro

"Jethro" <Wilson@somewhere.org> wrote in message
news:1jof13hkug70bnnr0tkshv1ggj711kg592@4ax.com...
>I see DVD disks come + and - (e.g. DVD+RW).
> I see CD disks come only - (e.g. CD-RW)
> What does the dash (minus?) stand for in the latter?
>
> Thanks
>
> Jethro

The history depends on who you ask

original cd's were just that - cd
then they wanted to distinguish the various types, specifically
recordable and rewriteable so they put in a dash for
cd-r and cd-rw
any other divider would have done the job ie cd/r and cd/rw

the same logic was used for dvd dvd-r and dvd-rw

You will notice that cd-r and dvd-r products carry a logo and adhere to a
standard,
and apparently pay a royalty to the licence holder

An alternate fomat for dvd's was created, some say to avoid paying the
royalty
These people chose a separate 'divider' to distinguish their product - they
chose
the plus sign, but could have used anything else.
These discs do not carry the logo

So - it is not 'plus' and 'minus' - it is just two different technologies,
and most computer drives
can handle both.

My dvd recorder will only write to +r and +rw, but will read both

Its just a plot to confuse us.

Stuart

On Sun, 08 Apr 2007 18:58:44 GMT, "Stuart Miller"
<stuart_miller@shaw.ca> wrote:

>
>"Jethro" <Wilson@somewhere.org> wrote in message
>news:1jof13hkug70bnnr0tkshv1ggj711kg592@4ax.com.. .
>>I see DVD disks come + and - (e.g. DVD+RW).
>> I see CD disks come only - (e.g. CD-RW)
>> What does the dash (minus?) stand for in the latter?
>>
>> Thanks
>>
>> Jethro
>
>The history depends on who you ask
>
>original cd's were just that - cd
>then they wanted to distinguish the various types, specifically
>recordable and rewriteable so they put in a dash for
>cd-r and cd-rw
>any other divider would have done the job ie cd/r and cd/rw
>
>the same logic was used for dvd dvd-r and dvd-rw
>
>You will notice that cd-r and dvd-r products carry a logo and adhere to a
>standard,
>and apparently pay a royalty to the licence holder
>
>An alternate fomat for dvd's was created, some say to avoid paying the
>royalty
>These people chose a separate 'divider' to distinguish their product - they
>chose
>the plus sign, but could have used anything else.
>These discs do not carry the logo
>
>So - it is not 'plus' and 'minus' - it is just two different technologies,
>and most computer drives
>can handle both.
>
>My dvd recorder will only write to +r and +rw, but will read both
>
>Its just a plot to confuse us.
>
>Stuart
>
Thanks

Jethro