How does CD-R compare to MiniDisc?page up: CD-Recordable FAQnext page: 2-20] How are WAV/AIFF files converted into Red Book CD audio?
(2002/05/26) A disc that you can add data to is “open”. All data is written into the current session. When you have finished writing, you close the session. If you want to make a multisession disc, you open a new session at the same time. If you don’t open a new session then, you can’t open one later, which means that it’s impossible to add more data to the CD-R. The entire disc is considered “closed”. The process of changing a session from “open” to “closed” is called “finalizing”, “fixating”, or just plain “closing” the session. When you close the last session, you have finalized, fixated, or closed the disc. A single-session disc has three basic regions: the lead-in, which has the Table of Contents (or TOC); the program area, with the data and/or audio tracks; and the lead-out, which is filled with zeroes and provides padding at the end of the disc. An “open” single-session disc doesn’t yet have the lead-in or lead-out written. If you write data to a disc and leave the session open,
