Audio Capability
Any CD-ROM drive that meets the Yellow Book standards (created by the audio industry for sound and adopted by the computer industry) has the ability to play back audio. Most CD-ROM drives contain the circuitry and chips to convert digital audio data into sound data. Most drives and sound cards also have a headphone jack, as well as audio jacks to connect to a stereo system. The only requirement is that the drive support the ISO 9660 standard for the file system. ISO 9660 is also known as the High Sierra Format. The ISO 9660 format is a standard for writing data to a CD-ROM for use in a cross-platform environment. This standard is compatible with MS-DOS, Windows, UNIX, Macintosh, and other operating systems.