Compact Discs–the same small, shiny platters that have taken the music world by storm–are entering the computer arena as CD-Read Only Memory (CD-ROMs), and mass storage will never be the same.

This means, for example, that an entire encyclopedia, ... Originally, computer CD-ROM players, which are about the same size as a 5 1/4-inch hard disk drive, sold for $1,000 and up.