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Video showing how the inside of a CD works is leaving people gobsmacked

Home> Gadgets

Published 13:53 4 Jan 2024 GMT

Video showing how the inside of a CD works is leaving people gobsmacked

A TikTok video explaining the tech behind a CD has gone viral.

Prudence Wade

Prudence Wade

CDs seem like a relic from the past.

After all, we're much more likely to listen to music on our smartphones - why would we bother with the faff of a CD? That's a compact disc, in case you didn't know.

They might be old school, but the tech behind a CD is still pretty impressive.

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A TikTok video has gone viral for uncovering just how your favorite bit of retro kit actually works.

The account Macrofying pretty much does what it says on the tin - it zooms into objects, showing you details of how they work up close.

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A CD has been put under the microscope - and while it looks cool, what does it actually mean?

Luckily, TikTok account Elysium Glimpse has reposted the video with a bit more background.

CDs work by "encoding small pits and lands (0s, 1s) onto the surface of the CD", the TikTok account explains in a post that's clocked up 792.K thousand likes and a whole lot of conversation.

"This binary code is then interpreted by highly precise lasers, enabling the player to accurately reproduce the sound."

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And those lasers that are doing all the hard work interpreting the code?

They might seem outdated, but the tech is actually pretty smart.
Kinga Krzeminska / Getty

According to the video, they're a mind-blowing one-sixth the diameter of a human hair.

As you can probably imagine, people are pretty gobsmacked in the comments.

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"I don't understand how humans figured out how to do this like whatttt," one TIkToker said in a comment that's racked up 39.7K likes.

"I WAS JUST WONDERING TODAY HOW A CD WORKS," another exclaimed.

While the intel is making some feel rather inferior: "Ok at this point I know nothing about anything."

Considering CDs are considered outdated tech, perhaps we don't actually want to know how something like a smartphone actually works - we're just not sure we could wrap our tiny little minds around it.

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But who knows - maybe CDs will have a renaissance sometime soon, just like records.

So if you were tempted to chuck out your discs, maybe keep them for now in case they become cool again.

Featured Image Credit: elysiumglimpse/TikTok
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