difference between CD-R 24X and CD-R 48X

[TK2014]

I was wondering for example, if you put a CD-RW 24X media into a CD burner, how does the drive know to write this media at 24X speed? Is there a difference in the structure between this 24X CD-RW and let's say 4X CD-RW media? Are the grooves in the media smaller?
If you know of a good link for this information, I would appreciate it. thanks.

[TippeX]

no structure, the atip information tells the cd/dvd drive the 'maximum recommended' speed that the disk can be 'successfully' burned to, no magic structures, nice theory tho

[TK2014]

the only difference is that the ATIP info. says that it's a higher write speed media? so you're saying that Low speed 4x CD-RW media is capable of being written to at 24X if it weren't for the ATIP info.?

[TippeX]

kinda, but 'recommended' means exactly that, i wouldnt personally advise buying 4x disks and burning at 24x, of course try it (its your expense after all) but in my experience it ended up being a successful burn (according to nero, with 'verify written data' enabled) but it died after a few days and isnt really worth the 'saving' the cheaper disks bring

[mziporen]

As much as I know, the information about the write speed that a blank is capable to - is imbedded on the blank, and the burn program, like NERO, reads it first than lowers its write speed to the instruction imbedded on the blank. If the burn program allows you to higher the speed - it is on your own stake.
My question is: you have mentioned the term "ATIP". What does it come for? what is it?
Thanks

[TippeX]

ATIP = Actual Time In Pre-Groove...

atip information is only present on rw material, you'll never find it on pressed disks (silvers) for example, and its often used as a 'backup' check for some protections (note: that a cd reader unit - ie : NOT a burner, will also return nothing on an atip check)..

the atip contains information like the dye used on the disk, max writing speed etc, and information that sometimes allows you to track it back to the manufacturer (to detect forged/fake disks and so on)... apart from that its not that interesting..

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ATIP

some of the info there is wrong, like the "ATIP information is only readable on CD-R and CD-RW drives, as normal drives don't need the information stored on it." line... but apart from that (and the fact that it doesnt mention dvd-r/rw etc) the information should be enough to satisfy your curiousity