CD error correction

[FlossyThePig]

The company I work for can trace its history back to a Chelsea recording studio in the mid '60s. (used by Pink Floyd when they were recording their first album).

During a recent presentation the chairman stated that when CD players first came out they had 5 levels of error correction built in and could play virtually all damaged discs. These days most players make do with 2 levels and the cheaper ones probably only 1 level.

Does anyone know what levels of error correction is used by the more expensive models today?

[BigBen]

I heard that from an engineer at a PC drive manufacturer.

I suspect the more expensive models still have the error correction capabilities of the cheaper units as economies of scale mean the chipsets will be designed around the low end kit.

[JustinP1]

Are we talking about the disc itself or CD players?

I know on an audio CD, there is the 'main' track and a redundant further two duplicate tracks should the first be damaged.

In the olden days of 48kb computers, media which can hold 650MB was pretty revolutionary.

Today though, considering the downsides of physical media, including damage, as much as I like CD, there are better options which cut out physical errors entirely.