CD text: Displays disc and track title on the display of the CD player when suitable discs are played.

CDR: Compact Disc Recordable. A type of CD that you can make yourself at home. Can be recorded on only once.

CDRW: Compact Disc Rewriteable. A type of CD that you can make yourself at home. Can be rerecorded on over and over.

Coaxial output: A digital output found on many CD players. Connect it to the coaxial input on a MiniDisc or other digital recorder for high quality recordings, or to an external DAC for improved sound.

Control A1: A socket which enables hifi components to be daisy chained and controlled via one system remote control.

DAC: Digital to Analogue Converter. The system employed to convert digital data (1s and 0s) stored on the disc, into analogue format.

Editing: A number of editing enhancements exist on CD players to make disc play more friendly. These include:

Intro scan: Plays the first few seconds of each track in turn

Peak level search: Finds the loudest passage on a disc to enable you to set the record levels of your recorder correctly.

Programme: Enables you to select the tracks you want to hear and the order you wish to hear them in.

Random: Juggles the order of the tracks around.

Repeat: All - plays the whole disc through over and over, A-B - plays a highlighted section of a disc over and over.

HDCD: High Definition Compatible Digital. A further enhancement of the CD format, HDCD enables a  higher resolution to be stored on a normal compact disc. When played in a compatible CD player, HDCD recordings sound cleaner, have a greater dynamic range and deliver a more impressive frequency response. There are 1000s of titles available.

HDCD recordings will play perfectly well on normal CD players, but you gain the performance benefits by loading them into an HDCD compatible player.

MP3: A compression technology commonly used by computer owners to store large numbers of sound files in a small space. MP3 files can be burnt onto a CD and played in a compatible CD player. It is possible to burn 700MB of MP3 files onto a single CD - this can equate to hundreds of music tracks on a single disc.

Optical output: A digital output found on many CD players. Connect it to the optical input on a MiniDisc or other digital recorder for high quality recordings, or to an external DAC for improved sound.

Pitch control: Allows you to adjust the speed of a disc's playback.

SACD: Super Audio Compact Disc: Super Audio CD delivers greater resolution and dynamic range compared with standard CD.

To see the latest selection of SACD titles, click here.